Saturday, March 27, 2010

9 Hour turnaround, Nancy Pelosi for The Weekly Standard

First, I would like to remind folks out there that my next class on High End Caricature starts April 16th! Please feel free to email me or the staff at Schoolism for more info on this.




I broke a new personal record with this one . . . Nine hours from start to finish.
When you get a call to paint Nancy Pelosi, you take it! Her face was well worth the struggle I undertook to finish this deadline! I was given this assignment late Thursday night. The final art is due by the end of the next day . . .

I didn't get to work until around 8:00 a.m. Did a really quick sketch, got it approved, and by 9:30 a.m. I was painting like a mad-man. To start and finish an illustration in one day is a challenge to say the least. You've got to always be thinking a few steps ahead. For example, I remember that when I was painting the nose, I was thinking about how I was going to paint the chalk board.

There is no time to sit back and reflect, it's just GO TIME! Paint, paint, paint! I realized I wasn't going to have time to eat lunch unless I got some help, and luckily my wife came through for me and bought me a sandwich from Subway, which I literally ate with my left hand while painting with my right.

This type of a deadline can be stressful, but I also find that there is an energy and a life to the work that I really enjoy. I like the painterly look as well. And though there may be little things here and there that bother me about this piece, I truly had a blast, developed new ways to paint faster, and realized new ways "how not to do things" . . . I love my job!







Dunce Pelosi Detail.




Final product.