Joshua and Miyazaki

 I just finished a fun project involving markers, Joshua, and one of my favorite photographs. Yay! I'd been looking for a project that would work well with art markers; I haven't done anything with them since shortly after River was born. I also had been looking for the perfect picture to add to my collection of portraits done in color and graphite, like these two done in previous years:

This new one was a little different in format, and I didn't completely decide to draw Joshua in pencil until the end. I ultimately decided he'd look good in monochrome pencil to contrast with all of the bright colors behind him. This photo has been hanging on my wall for about a year, and I love looking at it every night. My favorite thing about the photo was the way the big blue flower draws your eye, and how the large piece of red/yellow wall paper near the center of the picture contrasts with it. Some of the designs on this drawing ended up looking bolder than they do in the photo, so I don't think it carries the same contrast as the photo, but it has plenty of other things I love about it.
I especially love the unfinished portion of his pants, and wonder if it would have looked good to leave even more unfinished.

I really had fun figuring out how to depict the different kinds of wall paper, especially when I didn't have the exact right colors. For instance, this one on the left involved coloring everything with white, then using a skin color to make that weathered background tone. And the one to the right of it is a gold marker with orange smeared into it.

 Speaking of gold marker, this was the first time I got to use my gold and silver oil paint markers. They came in a set with a white marker I needed for this other project in 2014, and I didn't require them at the time:

Anyway, the gold marker was cool! It really was shiny and metallic when it dried, even though it doesn't show up as well in a reproduction or photo, but you can kind of see it at this angle:

One decision I did make at the last minute, was to color Joshua's hair red. I'm not sure it was the best decision, as it looked good in pencil too. The other two portraits above had a touch of color in the hair, but I left them mostly monochrome. I decided to color it because another thing I love about the photo is the brightness of his red hair going so well with all of the designs behind him. I'm not sure it works as well in the drawing, but what's done is done!
Also, I should mention I used his face from a different photo; in the photo with this background he's just prosaically smiling, but I liked this expression much better.



I think I might call this drawing, "Joshua and Miyazaki", because the t-shirt he's wearing portrays most of Miyazaki's most famous films. This was another thing I waited to decide; I wasn't sure if it might look better with just a plain dark shirt, but ultimately I kept the shirt graphics because they're a big part of what I like about the photo.

The one thing that bothers me a bit is that his hands look awkwardly drawn. Really, they look weird in the photo too because of the odd angle the camera was to his body. I probably should have reshot a picture of his hands for reference. Other than that, I think in the end it turned out pretty good!