Finished portrait of the glamorous Darling Darling:
india ink wash, red lacquer, white ink, pastel, and graphite on rough watercolor paper, 18" x 24"
photo of Darian during the photoshoot.
So if you have been following me on facebook and/or twitter you will know that I have a new friend/muse in Miss Darian Darling. I first read about Darian in Fashion Doll Quarterly in and article called "The Real Life Barbie Dream House of Darian Darling." After reading the article I immediately looked her up on facebook and wrote her a letter demanding that we be best friends right away....lucky for me she agreed!
In addition to being a New York nightlife celebrity Darian also runs a lifestyle blog all about....being blond and fabulous! Check it out Darian Darling: A Guide to Life For Modern Blondes.
We have become fast friends and Darian agreed to model for a portrait. We had a lovely time (and about 2-3 bottles of champagne between the two of us) taking the photos I used as reference.
Below is my process:
rough sketch:
building up the image:
pencil sketch
pencil sketch with photo reference
I always like to pop in a little red first
then put back in some white
and finally I built up the vignette with some many layers of ink washes
During a intense "spring cleaning" I stumbled across my old sketch books under my bed. They were really fun for me to go through and I thought I'd snap some photos and share a few of them....if you care to look.....here are various sketches, photos, and ramblings that were going through my head in my early 20's...
TO VIEW THE ENTIRE COLLECTION CHECK OUT MY FACEBOOK GALLERY
Last week I was asked to redesign a 1980's pinball machine to be used in a cosmetics commercial. Unfortunately the commercial has gone a different direction and they aren't using an illustration anymore but I love what I created and I'm still really happy to add this piece to my portfolio.
Here is the headbaord:
To create this image I used pastels, colored pencil, and lots and lots of photoshop.
Obviously I was inspired by early Jem and the Hollograms art:
and the work of Pater Sato
here are my rough concept sketches:
DANIEL SOLIANI!!!!
Daniel sent me a lot of amazing entries but this one really stood out to me. The white and gold are so dramatic agaist her skintone and that headpiece is to die for!
One of the great things about paper dolls is the ability to mix and match different items. These pieces will be a great addition to her wardrobe!
1st runner up: Paige Cody for "Ultimate Extravagance"
2nd runner up: Robert Perez
3rd runner up: Chaitra
Congratulations to all the winners!
Thank you to everyone who participated! It was so hard to choose, I spent all day debating...you are all so talented! I'll be contacting you via email about your prizes!
I'm still working on creating the new dolls..I'm getting close, they should be done soon! The winning design will be included with the one of the new Virtual Dolls as well as one of two items from each of running up entries! Be sure to look out for them!
Stay Tuned!
JDM
