Could it be magic? George Vlosich, 18, produces masterpieces without using pencil, paper or paintbrushes. He just turns two white knobs (for about 35 hours) until a richly detailed picture emerges. George is an Etch-A-Sketch artist. His specialty: portraits of sports heroes. Ten of George's portraits will be featured on Topps baseball cards next month.
George has been Etch-A-Sketching since he was 9 years old. The Ohio Art Company, which makes the toy, learned of his work when George was a sixth-grader. A company representative went to his Lakewood, Ohio, home to teach him how to preserve his pictures so that they don't get erased. He says Etch-A-Sketching needs no special trick, just "a lot of practice and patience."