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Dorris Designs was founded in 2008 by artist Eric Dorris and his wife Jennifer. Eric is described as a super
realism artist who has a passion for sports, and tries to portray this passion with his pencil and paper. Eric
has won awards for his sports art and has been showcased in many charity and fund raising events to help
raise money for worthy causes. Dorris Designs is starting to establish some clientele and has also done
some custom work for a few athletes and military departments. In the future, Eric hopes to push his art to
the limit by continuing to be even more creative and getting more public awareness so that everyone will be
able to enjoy his art.
My Story:
Hello,
First of all, Thank you for taking the time to check out my website and the art that I have created. Through
the support of people such as yourself, you're helping to make my dream a reality.
I blame my passion for sports on my dad and Steve Alford. As a kid, I remember always hanging out with
my dad, and if we weren't off camping in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado, we were at home
trying to catch the game, whatever the game may be. Being a transplant at the age of seven to the Denver
area from Indianapolis, I remember watching intensely the 1987 Final Four with the Indiana Hoosiers and
Steve Alford. I remember how excited my dad was when the Hoosiers cut down the nets that year and I
must admit, I was pretty excited too! I keep hearing my dad say, "The NBA better watch out for this Alford
kid". Unfortunately, I think the NBA is still looking. Never the less, Alford spawned a whole new
appreciation of what sports really means to me. See, life wasn't always easy for my dad being a young
single father. Even as a kid, I could see the struggles he went through just to make ends meet and to try to
do what was best for me. But sports, whatever the event may be, allowed him to tune out the world for a
few hours and let him focus in on something other than paying bills or going to work, or the sadness that
life can sometimes bring. So I guess it was this that made me come to appreciate the spirit of competition
and the tiny escape that a sport can provide.
Now drawing, I blame that on my cousin, Kevin Holtze. Although I haven't seen or heard from Kevin in many
years, we were pretty close as kids. I remember Kevin to be a good artist and I always wanted to be like
my older cousin. Kevin and I were avid football card collectors, and I remember he would draw some of
the players from the cards and would hang them up on the walls in his bedroom. He even gave me a few of
his drawings and I would try to replicate them as best as I could. I think this is what sparked my interest in
drawing, and my interest eventually became a passion. With anything though, you have to start
somewhere. I would draw a lot of animals and western type stuff and every now in then try to do a portrait
of some kind, but as a kid, I did not know the virtue of patients. I was in such a hurry to hang my pictures
on the wall, that I would lose a lot of detail in translation. As I got older, I started to pay more attention to
the detail in my drawings. Even then, drawing was just a hobby. A lot of times I would get bored with the
subject and just walk away from it without finishing. So I had these notebooks full of unfinished drawings
and thinking to myself, "What am I trying to accomplish with this?" Then almost like out of a movie, a
drawing falls out of my notebook and onto the floor. I pick it up to see that it was a drawing of Karl
Mecklenburg that Kevin had given to me many years earlier. It was like a lightning bolt hit me and it gave
me the ambition to start drawing athletes. Looking back on some of my earliest sports drawings, they
weren't great, but they helped pave the road to the artist that I have become today. I can only hope that
ten years from now, I can look back at my current drawings and feel the exact same way. So thank you
Kevin, and I guess... Karl Mecklenburg.
Today I find myself writing long winded stories about me and my artwork, trying to keep up with the
overwhelming media and hype the sports world brings, trying to incorporate new styles and mediums to my
repertoire, and trying to be a good son, husband, and father, I'm fortunate to have parents that support me
to the fullest, a wife that is always by my side, and three beautiful kids that I hope someday will be far
greater than me.
So why do I tell you all of this about me? I guess I could tell you about all the things that I have
accomplished and haven't accomplished yet but want to, but unlike my artwork, sometimes things get lost
in the detail. Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment that we forgot what got us to this point in the
first place. I like to reflect, it keeps me humble. I always like to tell people, especially young kids that I get
the fortune to meet while I'm at shows or events, everyone has a passion,you just have to find it. Who
knows,when you least expect it, it may fall to the floor... It's up to you to pick it up.
With much gratitude,
Eric Dorris
Dorris Designs
realism artist who has a passion for sports, and tries to portray this passion with his pencil and paper. Eric
has won awards for his sports art and has been showcased in many charity and fund raising events to help
raise money for worthy causes. Dorris Designs is starting to establish some clientele and has also done
some custom work for a few athletes and military departments. In the future, Eric hopes to push his art to
the limit by continuing to be even more creative and getting more public awareness so that everyone will be
able to enjoy his art.
My Story:
Hello,
First of all, Thank you for taking the time to check out my website and the art that I have created. Through
the support of people such as yourself, you're helping to make my dream a reality.
I blame my passion for sports on my dad and Steve Alford. As a kid, I remember always hanging out with
my dad, and if we weren't off camping in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado, we were at home
trying to catch the game, whatever the game may be. Being a transplant at the age of seven to the Denver
area from Indianapolis, I remember watching intensely the 1987 Final Four with the Indiana Hoosiers and
Steve Alford. I remember how excited my dad was when the Hoosiers cut down the nets that year and I
must admit, I was pretty excited too! I keep hearing my dad say, "The NBA better watch out for this Alford
kid". Unfortunately, I think the NBA is still looking. Never the less, Alford spawned a whole new
appreciation of what sports really means to me. See, life wasn't always easy for my dad being a young
single father. Even as a kid, I could see the struggles he went through just to make ends meet and to try to
do what was best for me. But sports, whatever the event may be, allowed him to tune out the world for a
few hours and let him focus in on something other than paying bills or going to work, or the sadness that
life can sometimes bring. So I guess it was this that made me come to appreciate the spirit of competition
and the tiny escape that a sport can provide.
Now drawing, I blame that on my cousin, Kevin Holtze. Although I haven't seen or heard from Kevin in many
years, we were pretty close as kids. I remember Kevin to be a good artist and I always wanted to be like
my older cousin. Kevin and I were avid football card collectors, and I remember he would draw some of
the players from the cards and would hang them up on the walls in his bedroom. He even gave me a few of
his drawings and I would try to replicate them as best as I could. I think this is what sparked my interest in
drawing, and my interest eventually became a passion. With anything though, you have to start
somewhere. I would draw a lot of animals and western type stuff and every now in then try to do a portrait
of some kind, but as a kid, I did not know the virtue of patients. I was in such a hurry to hang my pictures
on the wall, that I would lose a lot of detail in translation. As I got older, I started to pay more attention to
the detail in my drawings. Even then, drawing was just a hobby. A lot of times I would get bored with the
subject and just walk away from it without finishing. So I had these notebooks full of unfinished drawings
and thinking to myself, "What am I trying to accomplish with this?" Then almost like out of a movie, a
drawing falls out of my notebook and onto the floor. I pick it up to see that it was a drawing of Karl
Mecklenburg that Kevin had given to me many years earlier. It was like a lightning bolt hit me and it gave
me the ambition to start drawing athletes. Looking back on some of my earliest sports drawings, they
weren't great, but they helped pave the road to the artist that I have become today. I can only hope that
ten years from now, I can look back at my current drawings and feel the exact same way. So thank you
Kevin, and I guess... Karl Mecklenburg.
Today I find myself writing long winded stories about me and my artwork, trying to keep up with the
overwhelming media and hype the sports world brings, trying to incorporate new styles and mediums to my
repertoire, and trying to be a good son, husband, and father, I'm fortunate to have parents that support me
to the fullest, a wife that is always by my side, and three beautiful kids that I hope someday will be far
greater than me.
So why do I tell you all of this about me? I guess I could tell you about all the things that I have
accomplished and haven't accomplished yet but want to, but unlike my artwork, sometimes things get lost
in the detail. Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment that we forgot what got us to this point in the
first place. I like to reflect, it keeps me humble. I always like to tell people, especially young kids that I get
the fortune to meet while I'm at shows or events, everyone has a passion,you just have to find it. Who
knows,when you least expect it, it may fall to the floor... It's up to you to pick it up.
With much gratitude,
Eric Dorris
Dorris Designs
These are a couple of the pictures
that my cousin Kevin gave to me,
Including the Karl Mecklenburg
that inspired me to do sports
drawings. Kevin was probably 12
or 13 years old at the time.
that my cousin Kevin gave to me,
Including the Karl Mecklenburg
that inspired me to do sports
drawings. Kevin was probably 12
or 13 years old at the time.
My Progression-
People often ask me how I draw the way I do, and I have to tell them that I did not always draw the way
I do now. With a lot of practice and commitment, I was able to gradually hone my abilities. So here is a
quick look at my progression as a sports artist.
People often ask me how I draw the way I do, and I have to tell them that I did not always draw the way
I do now. With a lot of practice and commitment, I was able to gradually hone my abilities. So here is a
quick look at my progression as a sports artist.
Here are a couple of my very first
sports drawings. I believe I was
around 14 or 15 years old.
sports drawings. I believe I was
around 14 or 15 years old.
My shading and proportion was
getting a little better by 16 and 17
years old.
getting a little better by 16 and 17
years old.
By time I was 18 years old, my
shading, proportion, and an eye
for detail was getting even better.
shading, proportion, and an eye
for detail was getting even better.