Harold Brooks is a painter and illustrator who maintains a foothold in both arenas. He received his M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art. In his fine art he is now pursuing the more traditional portrayal of the figure and the practice of portraiture. His former work focused on the hyper realistic depictions of the icons of the American culture. His paintings can be found in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Miami Museum of Modern Art, the Edsel Ford Collection, the Harvey Wientrap Collection, and various collections in Switzerland, Italy, Germany ,Florida, New York and California. As an illustrator his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Business Week, Barron’s and various other publications. He is a former instructor under the tutelage of the renowned portrait painter Nelson Shanks and monitor for Costa Vavagiakis, life-drawing instructor at the Arts Students League of New York. Brooks wants to enable students to teach themselves and to maintain that curiosity and interest to always be open to learning. Mastering traditional drawing and painting techniques gives an artist the solid foundation with which to pursue the many varied aspects of the practice of making art.