Pencil Portrait of Parents/Grandparents

I finished the commission for Nancy tonight! Just in time for Christmas! In fact a few days early.  It took me nine working days and about 17 hours to complete (I kept track for the first time).  This is the second piece Nancy has commissioned from me.  Last year for Christmas I drew her daughters.  This year she asked me to draw her parents. She sent me four different pictures in the mail, with requests that her mother's glasses be clear, and perhaps take off a few wrinkles. 

I did my best to compose a good picture from the ones she gave me, doing a little editing on the computer using Gimp. I, however, did not want her mother to be as washed out as she is in the picture I ended up using for the composition.  Flash is such a nasty thing and doesn't make for great portraits - drawn or not!  So, I used the other pictures to help me fill in the blanks some.  I hope her mom looks like her mother.  I think her dad turned out excellent though! 

But, what do you think?  Do you think I did a good job?

Kids Art Coming to Life!

One of my friends recently and randomly posted this link on his Facebook wall.  Artist Dave Devries took children's artwork and then projected the image onto his canvas, faithfully tracing all the lines and then rendered them realistically.  I think his renditions are so great!  His collaboration of photos, paintings, and interviews have been compiled into a book called "The Monster Engine."

Here's some of what he's done:

 

Check out more about his project and art at his website: TheMonsterEngine.com.

Updated Heritage Art

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to update this piece I did in high school for my old roommate.

I have been happily working on it and think it's looks much better!  I made the watercolor background and sea more bold, and also more consistent.  I added color (using colored pencil) to the borders of the map, retraced the ink, and touched up the charcoal boat.  I also added a sea serpent and a compass to the map. 

I think all of these details really help bring the piece to life. I really like it now and am happy to sell it to my friend. But, what do you think?