Iqaluit (Oct 11/04) - Jason Sudlovenick, 19, is a traditional kind of guy -- but not in the way you might think.

He sees retired athletes Ken Norton and Mohammed Ali as role models. And disliking the profanity in most modern music, he prefers groups like Abba and songs such as Betty Davis Eyes.

Jason Sudlovenick loves to draw -- but he keeps it simple -- using a pencil and paper to create beautiful images. Here he puts his pencil to drawing a wolf. - Brent Reaney/NNSL photo

Regularly attending the Sunday morning service at St. Jude's Anglican church in Iqaluit, he often takes time to read his modern bible.

And his love of the traditional carries over to his art.

When producing beautiful images of polar bears or seals, he doesn't use anything fancy. A pencil and paper does him just fine.

"In high school they forced me to try something different, but I like it in the pencil," he says, and then smiles.

He learned he could draw at the age of eight when he grabbed a pencil and created the likenesses of Bugs Bunny, the Tazmanian Devil and Sylvester the cat.

Inspirations include his friend Dawn, who specializes in animation, and Jose, an artist he met while living in Pond Inlet as a child.

Currently working for the government of Nunavut, he is thinking about studying art in college.

"You've got to do something you like for the rest of your life," he says.

Even his fitness routine shows traditional tendencies. For a year, he tried working out with the relatively new Bowflex machine that uses special resistance rods, but didn't like it.

Since switching to old-fashioned free weights about two months ago, he has added nearly 25 lb. to his 5'11" 175-pound frame.

His great-grandfather was German, to which he attributes his fairly large stature.

He will add double meat to his six-inch Subway sandwich for the extra protein and tries to eat healthy snacks, but, "I don't count stuff," he says.

"Whenever I get the right amount of sleep I feel absolutely fantastic," he says, just prior to picking out five green-tipped bananas at the Iqaluit Northmart. Born in Resolute Bay, his family moved to Pond Inlet when he was a youngster and then to Iqaluit seven years ago.

Showing his sense of humour, he says "my family came to Iqaluit back in the 1900s."