The answer is Stephen Holland, and he has one heck of a story.
Holland, 76, grew up in the Bronx. He was an artist as far back as he can remember (the class artist in first grade), but had no focus.
He always liked painting the human figure, but as a young artist couldn’t afford to hire a nude model. Thus, he turned to sports magazines to find his first muse.
“I liked football, though I wasn’t a big sports fan. But I wound up getting some sports magazines, and I started drawing from the sports magazines just for the figures,” he said.