It was a LOOOOOOONG time ago but sometime between 1993 and 1996, I drew a graphite portrait of legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan for a co-worker. Back then I didn't have a computer, much less a scanner, so before I framed the piece and gave it to my friend, I photocopied the original. I was bored out of my skull one day, I guess, so I inked the photocopy. Recently, I dug out the inked image and I have to say, I kind of laughed at myself and my pseudo-effort. See, then, I was going through a phase where I was trying everything possible to up my inking game. Quill pens, Pelikan brand/India ink, brushes. You name it, I tried it but didn't practice enough, therefore I sucked hard at it. So, a few days ago, I laid down more solid blacks to the image, popped it into Photoshop, then minimized the detail just to see if less was truly more. You know what? It actually was. These days, I've upped my game with a bolder inking style through the use of archival ink pens like Microns and Staedtlers so really, this piece isn't indicative of what I can do today. It's merely a preservation or restoration of something totally I forgot about years ago. Plus, it's just fun to share a new(ish) image. :)
(Above: the original photocopy, after fresh ink was hammered in, pre-Photoshop)
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