Portraiture is something I haven't explored much of in my own practice, mainly down to my lack in ability to draw faces/people/ Luckily this brief doesn't have to be centred around an actual portrait and can be a representation of someone in a less obvious and direct way.
Here are some illustrators that I have researched into who focus on portraiture and subject representation.
Michael Gillette
After receiving our new studio 3 brief, I decided to have a look at one of the illustrators shown to us in our briefing - Michael Gillette.
As much as I understand the talent and skill involved in creating traditional portrait pieces, I have never really been much of a fan of the work as I feel it all kind of sits on one level. To recognise a person in a portrait, the piece has to possess some physical likeness to the subject causing a lot of portraiture to look similar - a bust, a face, a profile etc.
I do however really love characters and character design and if a portrait can convey the character/personality of its subject, a play on their history/legacy etc - I find this really cleaver and engaging and it takes the portrait further than just a picture of a person.
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| Herman Cain - New York Times magazine |
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| Painting process example |
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| Iggy Pop - GQ Magazine |
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| Amy Winehouse memorial piece |
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| "SNOOP" - The evolution of Snoop Dogg's fashion for The Fader. |
The Fader article link here.
Strengths: The above piece of Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion *whatever*) doesn't just work as a portrait but also tells the clear story of his life within the music industry and his recognisable fashion traits. In looking at this portrait, it does possess a feel of the traditional - a central figure sat on a chair, looking very stern and important etc. However, because Michael has chosen one aspect of Snoop Dogg to really focus on (fashion/individuality) - it pushes this piece a lot further and instantly has a lot more interest, connection and tells more of a story about Snoop Dogg as a person, who he is as a character, his legacy.
Media: Paint
Tone of voice: Comical, striking yet informative
Context: Editorial
Stanley Chow
On the hunt for more inspiration, I stumbled across the work of vector based illustrator Stanley Chow. I really admire how bold his work is and how, even with just the use of basic shapes, he is able to capture the personality of his subject within each portrait.
This portrait of Bruce Lee, despite directly linking to my chosen person of note, is really striking and well thought out despite its simplicity. The scratches on the face resemble those Bruce received in the film "Enter the Dragon" and also take on the appearance of a Chinese symbol, the colour scheme yellow and red link to a common outfit he wore in a few of his other movies and this looks like Bruce, despite only using a few shapes and block colour.
If I am to go down the route of producing artwork based on Bruce's actual appearance, I would like it to be cleaver in this way, having deeper and further meaning. I am also considering digital media for this brief, and after the successes on Studio Brief 2, I would definitely like to consider using vectors again in my work.
Link to Stanley's website is here
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