How to win a guy for life. The story & process behind the portrait.

Sharon went to high school with my husband @cyrstalhuman. When he told her that I did art she immediately proclaimed,
"I need to get something done for my guy." @_@

You see Sharon's boyfriend was very close to his grandmother, and now only had photos to remember her by. Determined to give the man she loves something that would mean the world to him, I was hired to do a pair of portraits of the beautiful Juanita.

The first piece is based on a picture of Juanita on her wedding day.

Now... I only recently made the move to doing art as my full-time job, and this was actually my very first portrait piece ordered by a client. While I have drawn other things from reference, let me just say PORTRAITS ARE NOT EASY.
How people even tattoo portraits is beyond me, but I digress... I pulled up my boot straps and got down to work.

These are all the materials I used to get the job done;

Ruler
No. 1 Royal Soft-Grip paintbrush
Daler Rowney Pearlescent Liquid Acrylic
Permanent Resist by Jacquard, 882 Gold Acrylic
0.5mm mechanical pencil, with 2B leads
Charcoal pencil with eraser
HB, B, 4B & 6B graphite pencils
and a No. 5 blending stub.

I started off with the dashing gent standing to Juanita's left. (This guy has been smiling at me the entire time I've been working on this piece and I still have no clue what his name is...o.o)

Next we got Juanita in the mix. Drawing her was 1000000000% more difficult than her male counterpart for one simple reason, 'wedding dress embroidery'. Who knew there were so many different shades of 'white', and why TF didn't they tell me!? :C
I used the pearlescent here to add some shimmery dimension to her dress.

Next we add the background. Once finished with that, it was onto painting the gold border and, BOOM, BAM THANK YOU MAM, WE ARE DONE!!!!!!
(I am a pirate from the Caribbean, this is literally how I speak... so bear with me... or don't, whatevs.)

The edges outside the order are slightly agitated from the tape peeling but a thin layer of clear coat seals it right up, and protects it from future weathering and dust.
For a first go, I am very proud of myself, and Sharon is beyond thrilled.

Now a special note to the ladies;
Ladies, the next time you are tempted to throw your beau under the bus, for whatever little grievance he may have committed, just consider for a moment all the things he has done right.
All the ways he has loved and continues to love you. And if nothing else, all the times he put up with your psychotic arse and still stayed though any sane individual would have bolted already.
It is always easy to find fault in those we spend the most time with, why not look for the silver-lining instead.
Who knows you may just end up being moved to do something completely out of the ordinary. Something that shows you not only care, but you actively listen to what matters to him.
Do that, and trust me, he won't want to be anywhere else.
Food may fill the stomach, but focused appreciation fills the heart.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post! Do stay tuned for second portrait which I am starting today and will post once completed. Here's a sneak peak of its reference photo!

The lovely Juanita later on in life. :) This one is going to be a colored portrait so I'm SUPER EXCITED to start working on it.

That's all I got for now guys, but as always fellow Steemians it has been my pleasure.
Until next time,
PEACE!!!

#artzone #stateofthearts #originalworks #marchartmadness #WOOT!