01
November
November
November 1st is my good friend Alain ’s birthday who is a Cultural Minister in France. This photo was taken last year when we were invited to the mayor’s home. At that time, I promised to give him a drawing of mine as a birthday present, so I decided to choose this photo of him as a reference.
Alain loves Chinese traditional cuture very much. and has a much deeper understanding than many of my chinese friends, so I first chose the Chinese dragon as a background with an angelic light and he is reading an old Chinese story.
After finishing the basic draft, I found his body to be a little short, so I made it longer. Meanwhile I was thinking if I give him this drawing as a gift, what about his next birthday? What should I take? I’d rather give him the Chinese zodiacs as a background, this year is the cow , next is tiger, and it will be much more funny, so I change d the dragon in to a cow.
All color was done by hand, my tools are markers.
I begin with his face dark and set the basic brightness.
After this foundation, I give it a hint of color — a little light red which was much more close to the skin.
I think the key to a portrait is the eyes, but i didn’t ink the right eye well. This mistake made the right eye a little bit bigger. I just had to leave it there and adjust it after finishing.
He has a classic westerner’s face, nose and eyebrows.
His face was almost finished at this point.
I begin to paint his clothes, first setting the basic colors.
I pave the basic brightness.
I wrote his name, and then, I accept my wife ’s advice by titling the book he is reading “Lucie”, which is his wife’s name. The cow is drinking a cup of milk, and holding the brochure of our art exhibition.
Add more bright color
Detailed and in depth
Designed the text: Alain, 2009, Year of the Cow, Happy Birthday, Nov 1st.
Done!
This took me almost 6 hours.
Alain, happy birthday!
I realized hadn’t shaved so I took the photo once again.
My old friend, happy birthday! Let us enjoy a healthy body and heart, as we need them to save the world!
Daxiong
3 Responses
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Thank for this great story, nice to read and i enjoy so much… happy happy to you
November 19, 2009 at 1:15 am
That is just so sweet
. Happy Birthday Alain!
November 1, 2009 at 6:50 am