This was an experiment with vellum – specifically, layering multiple sheets to create depth. The lily in the foreground is one the top sheet, the one on the left is on the sheet below and lastly, the lily on the right. Shading was done on the back of each sheet to further try and create depth. The scanner muted the effect as the original really pops out and better shows the result I was going after.
Commissioned by a friend, this handsome pooch is named Maximus Decimus Meridias which is about the coolest name for a dog I could ever think of. This was difficult because of the angle the reference photo was taken from and because fur poses a whole different set of challenges as opposed to skin on people. Other than that, it was standard portrait procedure.
Nikola Tesla was a brilliant scientist and an eccentric fellow from what I’ve read. His work with electricity and his ambitions for wirelessly delivered power is fascinating and so far ahead of his time. This is the second addition in my “People Who Kick Ass” series.
Layne Staley is one of my favorite musicians and this is the first entry in my “People Who Kick Ass” series of portraits I am creating. The hardest part of this were the sunglasses. In the reference photo I used, they were very shiny and the lenses also gave me a challenge too.
Despite calling myself “Faust” and having a “.de” domain, I’m mostly Italian. I created this in Photoshop for the purpose of giving it to my dad to hang in his “man cave”. I created this to be printed with dimensions of 2 by 3 feet. The working document took up close to 4GB of disk space and the saved file size was roughly 1.5GB. I made two versions – one for Sicily (which is where both of my grandmothers are from) and one with the whole boot for all the other Italian folks out there.
This was my second attempt at an oil painting. I used my other rose drawing as the reference for this and but the same basic sketch on a canvas panel and filled in with paint. Working with oil took some getting used but looks amazing when it’s finished and set. The stem on this is a bit thicker than I would have liked but overall, I’m pleased with this.
This was incredibly fun to do. I found a dragon by anther artist on deviantArt and took a lot of inspiration from the original line drawing and made it my own by embellishing the lines and adding color. This was originally done on a sheet of 18 x 24 inch watercolor paper. I used water color paper because I knew it would hold up to the Higgins ink that I used. I applied the ink with brushes and cotton swabs diluting or layering to give variations in color. Outside of the black ink used for the outline, only red and brown ink was used for the rest of the color.
A friend requested this as a basis for a tattoo she wanted done. I asked for color ideas and took creative liberty after I was given basic guidelines. Blending similar colors of marker and pencil worked out well. Trying to add depth to the shaft of the feather was a challenge working in such a small space and keeping the shadows and highlights consistent with an imagined light source.
This was done for a friend for a friend and his photography project. He wanted something that looked like the old sci-fi guns you’d see in the Looney Tunes cartoons. I took ideas from old toys and the “Duck Dodgers” cartoon with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (which I absolutely loved and immediately thought of when I was approached with this).
I drew this for my mom for Mother’s Day in 2013. It was my first time using my Derwent Studio pencils and I think that the result came out pretty well. The color variations were a little outside of my “comfort zone” but I was pleased with how easy the pencils blended together and how easy it was to layer color.
