Born and raised in Tucson Arizona, Stephanie Campos showed an interest in drawing at a young age. Her kindergarten teacher was first to notice her natural talent for detail. At thirteen she began creating realistic portraits in pastel, oil, and acrylic.

“With photographic reference, I challenged myself to place features as correctly as I could. It was tedious yet intriguing and consequently became a life-long passion. Over the course of time, charcoal became my tool of choice for its varied range in tonal values. My work is centered mainly on Historical Native Americans and was initially inspired by the artwork of Cowboy Artists of America member, R. Brownell McGrew (1916-1994) 

I love studying faces. There is information in the eyes to interpret -an expression, emotion or mood to decipher. I begin each drawing using light lines, then shade in details, erase for highlights, and gradually build form and dimension. I enjoy the process of starting from scratch to a fully rendered portrait.”