Free Spirit

Started this painting at the beginning of the summer and now it's finally complete. I had originally titled it "Still Dreaming," but I think "Free Spirit" fits much better. 

Ice Cube

So I finally finished the Ice Cube painting that I had been working on for about a year. This painting is from the album "Amerikkkas Most Wanted"  

Still Dreaming

A new painting that I've started. I titled it "Still Dreaming" but I'll probably change it though

"The Believer"

Here are more in-progress works of my painting for DAAPWorks 2013.

DAAPWorks 2013

DAAPWorks 2013 @ the University of Cincinnati

Promoting My Work

This spring, come visit the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning for DAAP Works 2013. DAAP Works will be on display from April 22-26 and is open to the build, so bring family and friends.

DAAP Works 2013: Senior Project "The Believer"

My senior year at DAAP and the University of Cincinnati is coming to a close, and that means senior project and DAAP Works 2013. My senior project will focus on portraiture and tattoos, so I'll be showing a portrait of myself revealing some of my tattoos. Most of my work deals with portraiture as you may, or may not know, but I'm also really interested in tattoos as well. Tattoos are becoming more accepted in today's society, but I still feel that they should be even more acceptable, especially as high art. There are a lot of people that look at tattoos in negative ways, but yet they can have so many positives to them. This is my work so far, and when it's done, I hope to leave my viewers with a positive attitude

Portrait: Sean Kilpatrick

Another painting that am currently working on, with portraiture and tattoos being the main focus. This painting is of a good friend of mine, Sean Kilpatrick, and this work had been a great challenge for me so far.

Shawn Barber

Shawn Barber is an artist that I discovered recently. His work primarily focuses on painting, portraiture, and the tattoo culture. Most of his work is created by using other tattoo artists that he knows personally or friends that have tattoos as well. I think that Shawn combines portrait painting and tattoos very well and his work gives me I inspiration for my own work. The process isn't easy but it's a challenge that I'm willing to take on.

http://www.sdbarber.com/

Shawn Barber

Self-portrait

I am currently working on this painting for a Portraits and Tattoos series. Actually faces may be included in some on my works, but the main focus is that of the tattoos, which will be the portrait itself. This painting in particular is still in progress.

Sean Kilpatrick: Dream Chasing

This portrait is of Sean Kilpatrick. Sean is a shooting guard for the University of Cincinnati basketball team. I first met Sean during my sophomore year while playing basketball at the Recreation Center. After that we became good friends, engaging in conversations and seeing each other around campus. I didn't know how much he was into art before we met, but when I told him about this painting that I was doing of him he was very excited and extremely appreciative of it. I feel that Sean and I have something in common, and that is trying to be the best at what we do and getting better at it every day, "Dream Chasing" as he would call it. I still have a ways to go before the painting is complete, but so I am pleased with it so far, as is Sean.

Ice Cube- "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" album cover painting

This is an album cover painting that I started working on over the summer for someone that I work with. Most of my employees know that art is my focus for my career and they love the work that I create. The guy that I am doing this for saw my work and wanted to know if I could paint this album cover for him by one of his favorite rap artists, Ice Cube. Seeing that this would be a challenge, I couldn't say no, so I took up the offer. Since I've started this painting he has been more than pleased with what I've done so far and we've been able to establish a great friendship. I'm a ways done from this one, so there will be more to come.

Self-Portrait

Marcus Bradshaw

2012

oil on canvas

30" x 30"

"Gotta Make A Living"

I've fallen in love with painting. At first I was always drawing and that was it, but now, painting has taken over. I plan on doing a lot of portrait paintings in the next couple of months. I have to start selling my work and make myself known to others. I have to make a living off of my art somehow.

"How to......": Getting better at Portrait Drawing and Painting

Before coming to the University of Cincinnati and the DAAP program I had never taken any figure drawing classes. When I was in high school I just took basic art classes so I wasn't able to get much experience with portrait and figure drawing, I could only do what I knew how to do. I would always draw pictures of other people, like classmates and other friends, and they liked my drawings, but I always told myself that I knew I could do better. So the only thing I could do was continue to get better by practicing more and more everyday. When I finally got into DAAP I was able to improve my drawing skills with the help of my professors. They encouraged me and showed me techniques to improve with my portrait and figure drawing, because they knew that it was my focus in my work. With their help I've gotten a lot better and will continue to do so by practicing and putting more time into my work. If you want to be a great portrait and figure drawer, the best thing to do is to just draw, or paint, as much as possible because there are no limits to what you can achieve in your work.

"How to......": Portrait Drawing and Painting Tips for Success

For those who are interested in portrait drawing or painting, here are a few steps you can use in your work:

1. Start off with the shape of the head, make sure its proportions are correct, not too big and not too small. Also, you can use your pencil or brush to measure the height and width of the persons head. This is a good way to get the proportions right.

2. With facial features, you want to be sure that they are a distance apart from each other as they should be; these include eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and chin. Like the head, these distances can be measured with your pencil or brush as well. 

3. When doing a portrait you never want to jump right in with the details. Its always better to make sure your proportions and angles are good before doing anything else. The details should come last and you don't have to draw or paint everything you see. Some times its good for the viewer to see something that isn't there.

4. Once you have everything in place, now its time to had detail. If you're drawing this may include shading, shadows, eyebrows and eye lashes, wrinkles in the face, hair, etc. If you're painting you want to make sure that you have a good color variation and ranges of value. Mixing colors to get the right skin tone for the person whom you are painting is a big part in determining the outcome of your work.

Visionaries and Voices Field Trip

Today I went on a field trip to Visionaries and Voices, an art gallery in North side, and it was a wonderful experience to say the least. Me and some of my classmates got to meet some amazing people that are artists just like we are. The only difference is that these people have disabilities. But does that make them any different from anybody else? Not at all! Their disabilities don't exclude them from society, especially in the art community because they are very creative in the works that they make. I was very pleased with the work that was shown and my classmates were pretty pleased as well. We were able to meet the people that work in the gallery and get to know a little bit about each individual; how they make their art and what things they enjoy most that reflects their work. Overall, it was just a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget. This trip made me realize how much I appreciate art and how much others should appreciate it as well.

Creative Influences

Lucian Freud

Kehinde Wiley

Lucian Freud was a German-born British painter. He was well known for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings. Kehinde Wiley is a New York-based portrait painter, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of contemporary urban African, African-American, Afro-Brazilian, Indian, and Ethiopian-Jewish men in heroic poses. I've done a lot of research on these two great artist and I absolutely love their work. The big difference between my work and theirs is that they work in a much larger scale than I do, but I will surely like to create works as big as theirs if not bigger. Other than that, I can't really explain any other difference between our works because I actually try to incorporate their styles into my work; the realism like Wiley and the thickness of brush strokes like Freud.

My Technical Process

When doing portrait for figure drawing work I usually work in a medium scale, not too big. It may depend on who the person is that I am drawing or painting, the surroundings, and whether or not I am doing their entire body or just their face. Once I have everything in place and the model is in a good position, then I am able to start, but no right away. First, I would do a gesture drawing to see what I want to do; make sure the proportions are right as well as the scale before I actually go into the final piece. My professors always encourage students to approach their work in this way rather than jumping right into the work without, and this is very useful in many ways. After I have a gesture drawing of the model done I can begin on the final piece. I want to make sure that everything looks right; if I am doing a full body pose I want to be sure that the scale of the model is proportional to that of the drawing or painting, which ever I am doing at the time. This would include the legs and arms are of equal length, the head of the model isn't too big or too small, and most importantly, I want to make sure that the angels and perspective are well balanced. If I am working on just the face of the model, I want to be sure that head covers most of the paper or canvas, which ever surface is being used. For the facial features I want to place everything at equal distance and proportional, just like it shows on the model. The eyes aren't too close or too far apart, not too wide or too narrow, the nose is about the same distance from the lips and the eyes, and the tip of the ears are about at eye level and the bottom of the ears are parallel to the bottom of the nose. These are just a few examples of what to check for. Not every person is going to be the same so you have to patient and on point. Take a step away from the work for a minute or two to see how it looks from a distance because this will let you know if you need to make any changes. Up close things may look to be ok, but if you step back and look from a distance you may find things that need to be fixed, so do this a few times just to be safe. This process works for me and it has helped me improve in my work a lot. For anyone that loves to do portraits and figure drawing I would also encourage them to take these steps as well. Your skills will improve over time.

Artist's Statement

Most of the work I create deals with realism and portraiture. These two concepts are what I am most interested in when working on a painting or drawing. As an artist I like to draw and paint things from life and this gives me more freedom to do what I am most comfortable with. I am more comfortable in this way because I’ve done it for so long and its what I am use to. I feel that this style fits my personality as well. Portraiture has always been my main interest because I cannot only do portraits of myself, but of others as well. The great thing about doing portrait work of someone other than yourself is that the work can be done from many different angles and the model has a variety of options as far as the way he/she wants to position their body.

Recently, I’ve gathered a great deal of inspiration from two great artists; Kehinde Wiley and Lucian Freud. Both of these artists’ work deals with portraiture and the work in different styles. Portrait and figural works, both drawing and painting, are my strongest areas and I feel that I can learn a lot from these two artists because they are very resourceful. I am driven by their ambitious talents and I want to, one day, become a great artist just as they are. I have the desire and passion to be a successful artist and surely my time will come