“I started drawing at three; I used to draw monsters as a child and sell them to other kids for a quarter,” said Skyline student David Talley.

Talley is a 25-year-old artist attending Skyline College. With 22 years of experience, Talley has not seen a need for art classes until recently in his college education. Talley would probably not call his pieces his “work.” He regards his art as a stress outlet.

“I like drawing people. I draw women a lot, as well as faces,” said Talley about his subject matter. “I fight in MMA. It’s too aggressive, I like drawing pretty things and ugly people.”

Talley is majoring in Business Computer Management, and is also taking accounting classes. His sister encouraged him to go into the major for a secure financial future, but he plans to continue his art if only to relax.

Talley has earned his way into the Skyline Talisman multiple times, including the cover of the most recent edition. He has also done multiple commissioned projects doing logos for a colleague’s radio show.
Talley works mostly with pencil, pen and ink. He dabbles in paint but says, “A brush is so detached.” He drew comics as a child because he enjoys finding humor in serious situations. “I paint the same way a house painter would: back and forth,” he admitted with a chortle.

“Even if the drawing was crap, the joke was funny,” he said humbly about his early work.

His influences are extremely varied, ranging from Non-Sequitur by Wiley Miller to the works of Da Vinci. One of his favorite artists is Todd Knopke, a Brooklyn artist who works mainly with fabric and thread to make patchwork portraits.

Talley used to do graffiti, but now sticks to more legal mediums. He would do smaller tags and would spray larger portraits of faces.

He dabbles in collaborative work, especially with his friend Jarred Gibbs. This talent for cooperation with others was very blatant; even during interview he was stopped to chat by several different friends and artists. This easygoing and charismatic attitude is palpable in his artwork.

“My intent is to give a sense of the inner essence of things I see, and to show the world how I see it,” said Talley.