Dances of Vice: The Moonlight Circus Poster

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This poster features the beautiful burlesque dancer Medianoche who will be preforming live at the event

December 30, 2011 @ 7PM

Riverside Church 91 Claremont Ave, NYC

Tickets & Info

DancesOfVice.com

sketches:

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Influence: Olive Oyl and Popeye

Olive You: graphite, red marker, on heavyweight drawing paper. 11"x14"

My best buddy Kate gave me this Olive Oyl doll last week because she knows I used to LOVE Olive Oyl when I was a little boy and I drew pictures of her all the time. .

I never understood when my mother used to explain to me that she was supposed to be funny and not glamorous, to me she was a vision of loveliness.

Portrait of Darian Darling

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

My "Drawn This Way" entries

V Magazine held a drawing contest called Drawn This Way where they asked fans to illustrate Lady Gaga as an editor for her new fashion column.

Well, I didn't place in the contest but here are my entries.....I'm happy with them.

entry # 1

Gaga with Black Quill

Entry # 2

Gaga with White Quill

sketches:

Portrait of Jane Forth

Portrait of 60's model / Warhol star Jane Forth

She was very glamorous because she looked like Olive Oyl and only wore toy plastic jewelery.

Portrait of Shien Lee

Finished portrait of the beautiful Shien Lee:

india ink, red lacquer, white ink, and graphite on rough watercolor paper, 18" x 24"

photo of Shien during the sitting:

Shien is a New York City Treasure! Shien is the founder and creator of Dances of Vice, a New York night life sensation that attracts a sordidly splendid menagerie of dandies, aesthetes, and dreamers who gather in shared enthusiasm for the music, fashion, culture, and beauty of times forgotten.

If you live in New York you must check out a D.O.V event. It's always a wonderland of eye candy and decadence.

I was lucky enough to have Shien sit for me at my studio last week. She has some of the best style in town, so I left her completely in charge of her own look. I just told her to bring veils and accessories! I ADORE what she came up with! From the moment she walked into the room I knew how I wanted this portrait to look: Bold and Inky!

Process:

the sketch:

I really liked how this sketch turned out. I wanted the final piece to look just like it....only a little tighter.

I moved onto my large paper. After I had my pencil outline, I appied masking fluid to the areas I wanted to remain completely white. Then I did a really light grey wash over the entire painting. I wanted to keep the tones as stark as possible but still have highlights.

I laid down my first few layers of darker grey wash.

I put down more masking fluid and then laid down the red

then I put down the black ink

after that it was about adding a few details and subtle washes.

and then I was done!