John Babun pays close attention to faces.He’s sketched the visages of residents of New York, San Antonio, Houston and, most recently, Baton Rouge.A portraitist for more than 40 years, Babun sketches both ordinary people and historical figures in an apartment-turned-studio in the Garden District. Using a lamp to accentuate shadows, Babun draws the faces of friends who voluntarily pose for him. He also sketches individuals from photographs.”I like to draw old people with beards,” Babun said. “I like the detail it requires.”A professionally trained artist, Babun studied at the Arts Students League, a respected art school in Manhattan, in the 1960s. Following school, Babun made his way across the South with hopes of settling in New Orleans.”I wanted to live in New Orleans. It’s a great city for art,” Babun said. “It’s very expensive for an artist to live there, though.”Instead, Babun settled in Baton Rouge eight years ago and his work has been featured at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum.Babun uses only two mediums — a special Japanese ink and woodless graphite pencils — to recreate the faces he encounters. He said his ink sketches are the most popular.”In the late ’90s, pencil was more popular. Now people really like the ones in pen,” Babun said.Babun retains about 40 original sketches. Depictions of Albert Einstein and Vincent van Gogh along with drawings of live models fill his sketchbook. Babun even draws variations of da Vinci’s famous painting, “Mona Lisa.””I draw interpretations of the masters’ works,” Babun said. “I’ll often draw multiple interpretations of one work.”Babun cited Rembrandt and Toulouse-Lautrec as particularly influential to his artistic style.”When I was studying in New York, I would go to the Met every day to study the old masters. I was greatly influenced by Rembrandt’s use of lights and shadows,” Babun said.Babun may know the “masters,” but “Old Wizard,” a sketch drawn entirely from Babun’s imagination, stands out among his collection. Although a man of few words, Babun jumped at the opportunity to describe the piece.”This one is entirely original. I drew it from my mind. Look at the wrinkles on the wizard’s forehead and his long full beard,” Babun said, pointing out features of the sketch.A disability prevents Babun from working a 9 to 5 job, and he sells his drawings to make ends meet.”You might say I’m making my living as an artist,” Babun said. “What I receive from the government isn’t enough to live on, so I sell my prints.”Babun displays his art weekly on West Chimes Street at the North Gate of campus and regularly along Perkins Road in the Garden District. But his enterprising endeavors haven’t come without conflict.”I’ve been barred from Highland Coffees and Perks,” Babun said. “It’s not always easy here.”But Babun isn’t alone in Baton Rouge.”I have friends who come to visit me. We do different things. Sometimes they pose for me,” Babun said. Ceramics junior Jess Cole met Babun when she began working at Highland Coffees, and a fast friendship developed.”My boyfriend at the time and I would take him to see movies and to dinner. I see him a few times a week now,” Cole said.Baton Rouge may not be an art hub, but Babun believes people here appreciate his work.”Even if people don’t know a lot about art, I think they can see the detail and the technique in my sketches,” Babun said.——Contact Ginger Clements at [email protected]