Original Picture

Ideally I like to work  from pictures and footage that I have taken myself. But sometimes that just isn’t possible, especially this last year with the pandemic. In this case I already knew the subject, and therefore was familiar with his natural facial expressions. I was provided the picture above to base my work on. While it is a great photograph, the bottom is cut off and we don’t see his feet nor the bottom of the instrument.

Sketch

I wanted to create a painting with more vitality and better composition for a painting, than what is seen in the photograph. I raised the right arm (changing the position of the fingers of the left hand accordingly ), I moved his legs, and made some minor adjustments here and there, all to create a better silhouette and stronger composition. I sketch digitally, allowing me to work on various versions and test out a multitude of options. It is also quicker for me to clean my lines and provide a nice sketch for my client to review before starting to work on my painting.

Oil Painting

Working from the sketch, I then created my painting over many layers of oil paint. (see my other process examples for my step by step of oil painting.