I had the opportunity to create a fan portrait for someone. I did the portrait entirely digital and from start to finish in Adobe Photoshop with the use of a drawing tablet. The end result was fun and funky. I try to capture the life in someones eyes and the client said I really achieved that, so I was very pleased.

I often enjoy paining traditionally but really love the ways you can play with things when you use digital media. This was a giant poster, styled in a retro colour palate and featured Cheech and Chong and my client. He was really happy with it and excited to get it up in the house.

I try hard to work from a rough sketch in a traditional sketch book, there I just get a idea of what the general layout will be of the piece. I'll then take the image I've gathered as reference and place them in the Photoshop document, being careful to have the size and specifications already set and clarified with the client. Sometimes that means I will create a quote for the client with the cost of the print and shipping included. Other time I will provide just a quote for my time and have the file directly released to the client for their printing purposes.

After rough sketching out the figures I will go in and create the shadows and texture of the finer details in the line work. If the portrait is less graphic and more realistic I tend to start with colour blocking and creating general shapes and then turn to details and creating depth.

When I start to work with colour I tent to keep those layers separate from the line work. this allows you the freedom to really go in and make lots of changes and try different things. I then worked on the background, hoping to keep it a bit understated and not including any line work to keep the emphasis on the figures in the portrait. I finally refine any textures and clean up all the edges and fine tune the colours and send a draft to the client for a quick review and address any edits. If this was a card or logo the client would be more involved in the rough semi comp stages and providing feedback. In this occasion I knew the client wouldn't have much for feedback until later stages when colour is introduced.

After the final review I make my final edits and sign the piece and package the files and organize all the folders for the client so they will easily be able to navigate the raw files if necessary. Then it's off to the printers! I like to view the prints before I send them out to clients for quality check or print a smaller proof in advance to check colours and the printers calibrations.