The inimitable Torontonian cartoonist John Martz has recently completed the impressive exercise of drawing every face (more than 1000 in total) that appears in his mother’s 1968 high school yearbook. The final results are available for purchase on his website, and can be also be viewed on Flickr.

John writes: “Good cartooning, to me, is all about simplification, and this was a fun experiment in distilling each person’s likeness down to a simple cartoon version and learning to draw efficiently, with both speed and as few details as possible.”

While not completely alone in this distinctive and herculean method of practicing portrait making, Martz’s cartooning manages to capture a tremendous variety of likenesses and characters all with an incredible economy of line.

Image courtesy of John Martz.