These five women are all singers in rock music. And five of my favorites. They are left to right Tina Turner, Grace Slick, Maria Brink, Cristina Scabbia, and Alissa White-Gluz. I am working on some collector cards after being commissioned to do a few based off movies by a collector. So I thought music would be a good place to start. Tina Turner needs no introduction. Her place in music as an icon is already set. Her live performances are surely legendary. I was lucky enough to see her live once. The same goes for Grace Slick. Her time with Jefferson Airplane and Starship made her another legend of music as a singer. I saw her live once also. maria Brink fronts her band In This Moment. She writes songs and has a unique singing voice and style. Cristina Scabbia is the female voice in the band Lacuna Coil. And what a truly powerful singer with amazing control. One of my favorite bands but I have not seen her or them live yet. The band is from Italy and does not get over here close to my city much. Lastly Alissa is the singer in the band Arch Enemy. I am not a fan of all their music because it has a metal growl that does not appeal to me. But her natural singing voice is really nice and I like when she sings with other artists. Also she is a advocate for animals and the vegan lifestyle. Both which I admire. So now you have a little background on these women and why I like them. The art was created with graphite, color pencils, and some ink on Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.
RONNIE JAMES DIO
Another evening artwork. I bought some sheets of a paper made in France by Clairefontaine called Pastelmat. Wanted to try it out with my Polychromos pencils and some liquid graphite. So I picked a black and white picture I had of Ronnie James Dio. Dio was a singer and was in a band called Elf and then formed Rainbow with Ritchie Blackmore in the late seventies. That was an amazing band. Anyway he then left and in 1980 he joined Black Sabbath after they fired Ozzy. Then left that after a couple albums to only return later for a new album and a couple tours. For what seems a legal situation the band was called Heaven and Hell. He died from stomach cancer in 2010. Dio was one of the greatest rock singers in my opinion. Especially from the Rainbow and early time in Sabbath. Now that you have a little of his history you know why I chose him for this. I think this paper is quite good for this style of art but it has a couple mistakes from learning so the next one should improve. Mainly the liquid graphite is a little touchy on this hard surface paper. But the pencils layered very well for a first attempt. I liked the way the pencils were able to cover but then have colors layered on top without messing up the paper. This sheet I used was a bluish grey in medium value. I chose it because of the colors I wanted to use it would give a good base. I glued it to a thick board so the paper would stay flat. I will definitely give this a try again with another subject on a bigger sheet. This one was about 9x12. #anthonyleonstudio #dio #ronniejamesdio #pastelmat #rocksinger #clairefontaine #rockmusician #portraitdrawing
BREEZE
This art is a new black and white graphite and pastel drawing based off an old color piece I did years ago for a fashion advertisement. The original version was just the woman but for this I wanted it to have more of a story. What is she thinking and why. I wanted the viewer to put their own ideas into the scene. This one was done on a different paper than what is now my favorite drawing surface. And that created a few issues that I did not like. The paper was too hard and it did not allow for subtle shading and edge blurs that I like so much. Edges are so important. I created this for the members show at Heartland last year and it now hangs in my home. I think I will put it in my store for sale though and hopefully it will find a new home.
Tamara de Lempicka
So today I have this art that is based on the artist Tamara de Lempicka. She is known for her Art Deco style paintings of women and various subjects. I have always liked her art and stylized figures. This is my drawing that I will be painting over with transparent oils. And building up to some opaque parts so I can layer on the highlights. I start with design sketches of the pose and work out ideas for the background pattern. I wanted the backgrounds on this set to all the same theme and look. Like it`s wallpaper or a room panel with art on it. This is certainly more in the area of my main interests with the Art Deco influence and the stylized figure. The drawing is 9x17 and all graphite on Saunders Waterford hot press watercolor paper. The surface of this paper is great for drawing and the dark areas do not get all slick. The paper can hold a lot of graphite so the darks are nice. I will first do my color comps on the computer and then when I decide on a color palette I can use that as a guide to start the painting. I have another one like this started and plan on doing at least three at this same size and style.
Blue Heron
I`m working on getting to a specific theme and subject to concentrate on going forward. So some of these are just good style development and may or may not be the direction. This is a fairly large drawing at 12x18 inches and is on Saunders Waterford 140 lb hot press watercolor paper. I mounted the paper to a thick board so I can paint it after the fixative and clear gesso layers dry. The under drawing is graphite and the color image is a comp I did on the computer to work out color and values. The goal of course is the final art will be better than the computer comp. This is a made up scene from pics of a Blue Heron and some I took myself at the zoo. I added the bird flying by to get some movement in the scene. Then I made up the setting and sunset lighting.
Nissa-Magic the Gathering
A little made up portrait based off the character Nissa in the Magic The Gathering role playing game. I have never played this game myself but after seeing some of the characters in a store here I decided to do a few. These are a good practice at thinking through a version of the character as I see her. Nothing serious going on here just some fun color drawing. I did a few sketches of different looks and settled on this one to do this color piece. The art was graphite, Polychromos pencils, and a little paint on colored paper.
Harry Houdini
This one is a drawing I did for the Drawing Hive online live drawing night. This is Harry Houdini and was done in about thirty minutes. These are a good way to stay loose and practice capturing a likeness. I liked the way this one came out. Graphite on Fabriano paper.
Alissa White-Gluz portrait
I`m giving this a try to have a place to share what I am working on and what I hope to achieve going forward. This should give me the ability to talk about a new piece of art and how it is being created. I can give more insight into how I work and the materials I use.
This first piece is a new portrait of a musician that I admire for both her singing ability and also for her work with animal charities. She is also a big promoter of a vegan diet. From the interviews I have watched she is a very positive, intelligent, and creative person. This is Alissa White-Gluz. She is the singer for the band Arch Enemy and also does collaborations with other musicians.
For this piece I wanted to show her intensity so I was able to capture some stills from videos to use as reference. I combined a few and did a rough sketch that I then tightened up at size which is 12x18 inches. The drawing is on Saunders Waterford hot press watercolor paper that I mount to board with archival glue. This graphite drawing will then be sealed and color oil glazes will be added. I do color comps on the computer to decide on color direction and work out values. I will update the process here as it proceeds.