‘HeroSketch’ artist to show military-inspired drawings

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Chique, Unique & Antique in Marble Falls will be hosting a Veteran’s Day commemoration Tuesday featuring “HeroSketch” artist Cheryl Roberts, of Kingsland. Roberts will be showing and selling her prints of military-inspired drawings. Her work has been commissioned by the U.S. Armed Forces, although things have been a little slow since budget cuts, she said Thursday.

“I’ve always loved and had a high respect for the military because my dad was a WWII veteran, but I wouldn’t have believed you if you said I’d end up drawing for the military,” she said.

As a self-taught artist Roberts’ earliest start is lost in the haze of childhood. “Since I was little, I can remember drawing with pencils, crayons, and anything else I could get a hold of,” Roberts said. “It’s something I picked up naturally.”

It was her desire to use art to make people happy combined with a near-death experience in a fire that led to where she is today.

“I didn’t choose it, it chose me,” she said.

More than 25 years ago she was almost killed in a fire at a gas station in Austin, which left her badly burned and struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder years afterward.

“I started having dreams about fire and smelling smoke,” she said. “I had to have [PTSD] to understand it, so it gave me empathy for our veterans.”

Roberts did her first military-inspired drawing after finding out her mechanic, a Vietnam vet, shared her struggle with PTSD.

“I wanted to cheer him up, so I did a drawing [Shadowed Commando] about his service,” Roberts said, explaining the dual meeting behind the title: he was a Navy Commando and his military memories “shadowed” him.

Everything snowballed from there, as military recruiters and unit, squadron and battalion commanders commissioned her drawings.

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.