TOM- My friend, Edwin Vasquez and i recently put together a little promo book containing portraits of musicians. Its full color and contains all our contact info, just something nice to give out to people and potential clients. We will also be selling them at this months MOCCA festival where we will have a table. I was trying my best to get the likenesses of the musicians down and at the same time add a little bit of there personality either through color or posture, expression.
The first portrait i did was this one of Johnny Cash. I have been a fan of his music for some time now, but it seems that i have recently been incorporating him into my artwork more and more. Whether it be through portraits or through short stories about him, he's someone that i have been drawing quite a bit lately. I used photo reference, but didn't want it to look like any particular photo so i just took features from a whole range of photos.
Then I light boxed the penciled image, inked it and got it ready for color. The number on his name tag is taken from one of his real mug shots. Starkville city jail is just a reference to a song that he sings at San Quentin about getting arrested.
I colored it with a halftone affect to give it a kind of old school comic book color feel. I also tried to limit my color down to about four colors, taking some of the ideas that apply to silk screening. I've looked at this portrait for a little too long and can no longer tell if the likeness is completely there, so if theres any comments, feel free to express.
The first portrait i did was this one of Johnny Cash. I have been a fan of his music for some time now, but it seems that i have recently been incorporating him into my artwork more and more. Whether it be through portraits or through short stories about him, he's someone that i have been drawing quite a bit lately. I used photo reference, but didn't want it to look like any particular photo so i just took features from a whole range of photos.
Then I light boxed the penciled image, inked it and got it ready for color. The number on his name tag is taken from one of his real mug shots. Starkville city jail is just a reference to a song that he sings at San Quentin about getting arrested.
I colored it with a halftone affect to give it a kind of old school comic book color feel. I also tried to limit my color down to about four colors, taking some of the ideas that apply to silk screening. I've looked at this portrait for a little too long and can no longer tell if the likeness is completely there, so if theres any comments, feel free to express.
4 comments:
I didn't know Johnny Cash was Native American. Just kidding--the likeness is pretty strong, the colors bold. I want a copy of this book. You want money? I'll give you money.
Yes, it costs $250 and your soul.
I like your color choice(s). RAD! I want a copy! I already sold my soul to pay my student loans, but i'll throw in an extra $50 to cover it.
yeah, the likeness IS pretty dead on. young john cash. where's my damn guitar.
i wish the color pic was bigger so i could see the halftone better, but the colors are strong and so are the blacks - they work well together. where's moz?
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