Self Portrait 1
With all the new "phone camera" technology out there, it's easier than ever to take pictures quickly. If I have a camera in my hand and nothing to do, I WILL take pictures. In this case I was at my parent's house and accidentally flipped to the front facing camera on my phone and there I was. The light was good, and I engaged the camera and shot a self portrait.
I ran across it and thought it would make a good "digital charcoal".
At first I thought, "I'm not that vain, why would I do a self portrait of myself. Then I was looking at a catalog of Rembrandt's works and he did TONS of them. So indirectly Rembrandt gave me permission to do this
Dad
I had been wanting to do a portrait of my dad for a long time. He has this "look" which I wanted to capture. I started this early in 2012, and when my dad's health took a turn for the worse late in 2012, something inside me wanted to finish this before he passed. It's Oct 17, 2012, it's done and he's still with us.
Not sure for how long though.
I did this is from a photograph of my dad in 2005 taken in my backyard in Pasadena. It was a much wider image, but I cropped it in because I really wanted a "portrait feel". It was the only shot I had of him with that "look".
Twain Eyes
When Mark Twain's autobiography was released - it was held untill 100 years after his death for release - I saw this image of him. I believe that this is the image from the cover of the autobiography. I forget how I came about it, but for whatever reason, I thought that the eyes alone were amazing so I cropped the image to this format and I found that the character still remained. As usual, I became obsessed, and had to create a digital charcoal based on the cropped photo.
"Hitch"
This was the first concentrated attempt to use digital media to emulate real world media. He's one of my favorite filmmakers, and I just loved that Apple used this portrait for it's "Think Different" Campaign
Charcoal
The is from a Howard Austin Feld photograph.
Playmate
Did this one from a Playboy photo.
Not crazy about this one, but I like the pillow and the folds in the material at the bottom right hand corner of the frame.
Saddam
Did this the night he was executed.
Also the first in the series called "The Despots"
Rummy
This was to be the second in a series called "The Despots"
Houdini
I'm fascinated by magic but more by the characters behind the magic. They broke the mold after this guy.
Veronica
Who doesn't like Veronica Lake, although the proportions are a little wacked
Eagle
I did a project where I had to create CG eagles, so during my research I started to get consumed with pen and ink and eagles. This actually started as a pencil sketch. I scanned the sketch and then finished it with "digital ink".
"What are you looking at?"
Cecilia Dean. I'm not sure who she is, I think she edits a magazine. A VERY expensive magazine.
Some of the issues cost $10,000
I liked the pose and the look on her face so I thought that she would make a good subject.
Are you talking to me?
This drawing was done from a photograph by the great René Felderer
Riley
This was my niece Allie's dog Riley. She was the sweetest girl and we spent many hours with her. The day she passed I did this painting. It was my first time actually using color and oil painting on the iPad
