J.C. Leyendecker Inspiration

So I went to see a J.C. Leyendecker exhibition recently and I decided that he is my new favorite American illustrator.
I love his bold strokes and how easily he conveys cloth folds and such. My favorite aspect of his paintings though is how he does hair. The locks of hair curl at angles which give his pieces a more dynamic look. How he renders facial expressions is another thing I admire him for.

Anyway, I decided to do some more practicing with my tablet and I think this is the best digital painting (of the face at least) I've done to date. The face is done after one of my characters and I thought it would be nice to have a modern twist to the image. The juxtaposition of the bold shirt and tie contrast with the more carefully rendered face. The hand-lettered type adds a rugged look and seems to disregard modern conventions of computerized precision. Keeping Leyendecker and his ads for Arrow Collars in mind, I made the image an ad for a fake clothes brand.



Perhaps if I were feeling really ambitious I would actually do the rest of him with as much detail as the face. Oddly enough though, I would feel more comfortable if I did it with oil paint. Oh well.