Life — December 14, 1928 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Sketch Page This page showcases **Russell Patterson**, a commercial artist born in Omaha and educated in Montreal. Patterson designed covers for jazz songs and created portraits for department store advertisements. The sketches demonstrate his particular talent for fashion illustration and figure drawing. The left panel contains fashion and figure studies—women in various poses wearing 1920s-style clothing, and men in suits and top hats. The right panel shows anatomical construction drawings and proportion studies, including geometric frameworks used to plan figure poses. The handwritten note at bottom ("I think my lettering is much better than my drawings—oh hell") appears self-deprecating. This page documents Patterson's professional technique rather than containing political satire—it's essentially a portfolio showcase of his commercial art methods.