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I recently had the privilege of being featured on Insider Art. So far the video has over 6 million views in a week…check it out!
While I have not been painting for that long, I have realized how easy it is to fall into a pattern. Now, I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. In fact I think it is very smart to find what you are good at and drive it home. That being said, I also think it is so important to test your limits and challenge your creative gifts. So, these last few weeks I decided to find ways to challenge myself. The most recent of which was agreeing to do a cover for a local Harrisburg magazine I had been doing illustration for. They had an idea for a cover that they had approached several artists about, but were unable to get done in time. So,, I accepted the challenge….
Paint a parody of the Norman Rockwell painting “Four Freedoms” for their cover….and complete it over a weekend.
Now, this was somewhat daunting to me. A…I’ve never painted people before (I don’t think they knew that). B. I had never really painted anything other than animals. C. I only had a few days to complete it. BUT, I told them I would get it done and I said to myself “you will get this done.” lol I do recall an hour into the painting thinking, “Did you bite off more than you can chew?” But I just kept saying to myself….”It’s painting….it’s art…you literally have the ability to make and creative whatever you want to.”
So, after 15 total hours of painting, experimenting, and touching up…..I had it ready to go for print. This was not only a new style of painting for me to tackle, but it opened up a new world of painting to me….what is the next new, exciting challenge?….how far can I go w/ this? I realized art is like anything else in life – you can stay with what is comfortable and is known to you, OR you can constantly challenge your limits and find entirely new boundaries within which you can play (or in my case paint…but really its all the same). Be confident in what you can handle and challenge your comfort zones.
So, before I began painting, I did a lof of my own illustration….including caricatures. For, me, caricatures are just pure fun. I love cinema and the acting world, so combing that w/ illustration has been a hobby of mine for a while now. I have also realized how much it has sharpened my eye and perception. You really need to focus and understand your subject to capture them well. I also needed to work on being quick and precise when I draw caricatures (NO MESSING UP ALLOWED)…so that has greatly improved my need to get things right on the first try. So, here is my most recent celeb caricature….
You may know him as Walter White, a local, straight-laced science teacher, or the menacing drug lord, Heisenberg.
I know him as one of the greatest actors to ever be on television.
The Art of Rendering 