Victor Juhasz: Combat Artist

Victor Juhasz has joined the proud tradition of being a combat artist. Here he is at Quantico a couple of years ago:

"For me it was another prime opportunity to practice being fast under constantly fluid circumstances. While it was live fire training, it was not actual combat live fire, which allowed me the luxury of not having to worry about getting killed (provided I stay out of the way of the bullets) and instead focus on the number of opportunities to find the right place to be as the lieutenants repeated their exercises. Classic trial and error, and adaptation. These were not portraits. The emphasis was on action and narrative and since the teams were all taking turns performing the same exercises it was not essential to finish a drawing of one specific group but patiently and methodically add new figures to the drawing already in progress."

He continued on, returning to draw the Navy on the USS Bataan. And he returned this year, drawing the Marines in Camp Wilson. 

"This was their first time dealing with people who 'draw on the spot' and it’s very different from photographers they’ve been so accustomed to. I’m sure they were feeling it out how to accommodate us. We often heard the comically inaccurate description from Marines, and it would make us laugh, that we were drawing 'photos' of them. It didn't take long though for our reputation on the base to be getting attention. It seemed that many knew about us before we even met. It was pretty noteworthy the number of Marines, from commanding officers on down the ranks, wanting to share images of their kids' drawings and paintings and letting us know how much they enjoyed and supported their kids' creative aspirations. I'm sure I'll be hearing from some of those sons and daughters since I gave their parent's my card. Until I do hear from them my advice remains, keep drawing."

Some great work here, and some wonderful stories. Well worth browsing. Thanks for sharing this, Victor!