Portrait for Kerri and Jamie

Another portrait in acrylic. They had a really good photo to work from so I didn't have to change a whole lot. Sometimes I will get either a small photo or some snapshot that is out of focus so was able to just have fun painting rather than working out a good composition.

Commisioned Portrait

Here is a commissioned portrait approximately 8x10" in size. Painted with acrylic.

Finish the Self Caricature

This self caricature was originally sketched a few years ago. I showed the black and white process in an earlier post. Yesterday I finished the color and so it's finally ready to be uploaded. I did have to tweak some things so it took a little more time than I had planned, but that was just a technical glitch, the painting of this went fine. I spent about eight to nine hours finishing this up over the past two days.

added some base tones

and the finished piece

At a boy Spark

Still looking for a finished verison. This was from a few years ago and I was not in the habit of taking photos or scanning before I gave artwork to clients so I may not ever find it. The finished version had more details and said "At a boy Spark" along the top in reference to the little dog Sparky.

E is for Elvis

This is a book I illustrated called "E is for Elvis". Each page has a different letter of the alphabet with a unique fact about Elvis. And even better each letter has it's own unique illustration! I did a lot of caricaturing for this book and it was a long process. It was very hard sometimes to capture the ideas of Elvis, while still being respectable. It was so fun to illustrate this book. I was honored that a few times the authors would even change the writing to fit an idea I had for an illustration. All of the artwork for this book was done digitally.

There are three authors, Lisa Rand, Jenny Ivey, and Calvin Dickinson, all of whom I greatly appreciate having the opportunity to work with. They had previously published another book called Tennessee Tales, but this was their first book working with an illustrator.

If you would like an autographed "E is for Elvis" book or have questions please email me at ronwireman@live.com.

Also you can order the book from me at half.com

Baby Portrait

This was another project where the goal was to use warm and cool colors. My professor said the contrast was more than just warm, it was hot! This was made using acrylic on illustration board.

Eagle Portrait

I'm not sure if it qualifies as a portrait or not, but I drew this eagle for my grandfather in law. He was in the Navy and enjoys anything patriotic. I used a variety of pencils. The feathers were particularly tricky but it was worth it when my grandfather law was elated to receive this drawing.

Black and White Portrait

This portrait was done with acrylic. I enjoy working with monochromatic color schemes. Although Black isn't really a color I enjoy the contrast and intimate feeling you can create with it.

The Rock

I made this illustration for a class in college. It was a fun project where we had to combine different techniques. I used a towel and smudged the background, acrylic for most of the face and colored pencil on top of that. The crown idea I got from his recent movie at the time - The Scorpion King.

Ink Pen Portrait Sketches

I live apart from my family. When I got a chance to see them a while back for a holiday I took some time to draw some of my cousins. I like using ink pen a lot. It's a difficult medium to work with and there's no room for mistakes so it's a fun challenge. I had a good time with these and everyone really enjoyed seeing me draw.

Self Portrait

I am working on my self portrait. I actually drew this a while back, but left it black and white. So now I'm going to add some color and hopefully use it as my profile picture and possibly for business cards or whatever else it will fit into. I'm pretty happy with it so far after about two hours of working on the color.

the progression to a completed black and white drawing

original sketch

added shading in the face

blocked in the shirt, refined the face a bit

shaded the hand and pencil

finished with basic shading