Portrait for The CIL

I made this portrait for The CIL which is a non-profit organisation that supports people with disabilities.

They saw my colourful portraits that I made previously and hired me to do one of Ed Roberts who was one of the founders of The CIL. On the image they sent to me to recreate he was captured when resting in an iron lung and still, he had this genuine smile on his face, bless him. I found it to be a great portrait not only because of that but also because his face looked very characteristic with all that facial hair and brows. These features make a drawing look so potent in texture as it is that I really don’t have to work hard to find out how to make the art work look animated and exciting at the end.

I asked them if they would be open-minded for a slightly different look as I have been improving this splashy technique since the last batch and I was so happy to find out that they let me have my creative freedom as long as it features bright and vibrant colours and the art work looks great.

So for this colourful portrait drawing (compared to the old ones) I made the contour lines to be way more detailed and also I used waaay more layers and textures and this resulted in an art work which looks that much more alive. I think so anyway. I didn’t only use the obvious splash textures but I also incorporated aquarell ones, oil paint ones, rust textures and even leather. Does it makes me any less of a vegan? Hopefully not.