Larry Holmes vs. Mike Weaver I

Larry Holmes vs. Mike Weaver I, 14" X 17", Prismacolor Ebony Pencil (Graphite) on Bristol Board. Art by Coyote Duran.

Hey, I'm back, Howlers! ( I know; I know. Who cares? Just bear with me...) It's been too long a stretch not posting anything here and that's something I've been meaning to change for a good looooooong time. So without further ado, here's a blog about my latest commission, one for my pal and boxing guy Dave Wilcox!

Dave is a major fan of former longtime heavyweight champion Larry Holmes and former WBA heavyweight titlist Mike Weaver (with whom Dave is also a friend) and wanted a reproduction of a renowned moment in their first battle, for Holmes' WBC title, on June 22, 1979.

Now these days, I'm rather reluctant to recreate a scene or pose for which an established photographer is responsible but it's at the request of a customer and, with my particular style, it's not an exact copy. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Dave also requested a black-and-white rendering and asked if it could be done in pencil. Well, my favorite way to do a fully-rendered pencil piece is to lay it out on Bristol Board (my favorite, on which to pencil. In this case, 14" X 17") with my trusty Alvin Drafting leadholder (in 2H lead) and finish with a Prismacolor Ebony pencil, topping it all off with a blending stick.

The image above is the finished rendering and the following in-progress images are courtesy of my Instagram account.

Duran-Leonard I: 'The Brawl in Montreal' - Part two

Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard I: "The Brawl in Montreal." Watercolor paint and ink on 10" X 13" cold press paper. Art commission by Coyote Duran

When we last tuned in, then-undefeated WBC welterweight titleholder Sugar Ray Leonard was getting his head handed to him by arguably the greatest world lightweight champion of all time, Roberto Duran, fully rendered in 2H graphite on cold press watercolor paper.

Well, joy of all joys, this sucker is finished (watercolor paint and black ink) and getting prepped to send to its owner Mike Downie, in Texas. SO MANY apologies for this being so late! But it was so much fun to render! I'm so grateful for these challenge commissions!

If you don't follow me on Instagram, please check out the following process photos!

Duran-Leonard I: 'The Brawl in Montreal' - Part one

Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard I: "The Brawl in Montreal." Graphite (2H) on cold press watercolor paper, prior to watercolor paint and ink, 10" X 13", art commission by Coyote Duran

It was actually almost a year ago when I created the first piece in what now would become a series for one customer, a friend of mine, Mike Downie from Texas (a watercolor and ink rendering of the classic battle between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, seven minutes and 52 seconds of beautiful violence, known simply as "The War). Months later, Mike would commission a brand-new piece, evoking another classic battle from the early-1980s - June 20, 1980, to be exact - the first meeting between arguably the greatest world lightweight champion of all time, Roberto Duran, and then-undefeated WBC welterweight titleholder Sugar Ray Leonard.

The 15-round championship bout ended like few anticipated, with the villainous "Hands of Stone" holding his hands high in triumph before flipping off Leonard's then-wife Juanita. Although, Leonard would authoritatively avenge the loss, via eight-round stoppage, five months later in New Orleans, Louisiana, the ink in boxing's history books is indelible. Roberto Duran handed Sugar Ray Leonard his very first professional loss.

Now, regarding this piece, if this scene looks familiar but doesn't (if that makes sense) is because had I replicated the photo reference Mike provided, I would have had to render both Duran and Leonard much smaller, resulting in much unused space between them. So I took a little "artistic liberty" and shortened the space between the two, thus substituting Duran's long right hand, down the pipe, into something of a tight hook (more of a cross, since Duran is a right-hander). If it's difficult for you to visualize, just consider Duran's right elbow being at close to a 90-degree angle from his right fist, if that makes sense.

Again, I had to go full pencil rendering on this piece in its layout stage (with my trusty, true-blue Alvin Drafting leadholder, loaded with 2H lead on Strathmore cold-press watercolor paper), simply because it looks dope, Howlers.

Anyhoo, it's off to the paint and ink stage now but before you jet, if you haven't seen them just yet via my Instagram feed, here are the process photos:

The Four Kings of Boxing: Part one

The Four Kings of Boxing, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, 2h graphite layout on 18" X 24" stretched canvas to be finished in acrylic paint. Boxing art/painting by Coyote Duran.

On the heels of my two most recent boxing paintings (a watercolor Manny Pacquiao and an acrylic Denny Moyer), I thought I would tackle another boxing piece, prior to jumping on a commission, but I wanted to do something different, something surreal and reminiscent of a time in my youth that helped influence the artist I am today. And that time was all about comic books.

Remember the older Marvel Comics that has the panel in the upper left-hand corner that featured the faces of team members in the X-Men, Fantastic Four and the Avengers? Well, this approach somewhat reminded me of those issues in the 1970s and 1980s. This approach also features my four "comic book heroes" of boxing: Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. These guys represented everything right about boxing during hat time and - get this - they all fought each other. That's kind of a difficult thing to ask for in this day and age, right?

With that in mind, I wanted to work BIG (well, bigger, that is. I decided to render this piece on an 18" X 24" stretched canvas). I think, when one works as big as he or she can, it allows for better and freer attention to detail. You can also take more chances.

Now I know you're probably looking at my floating heads and thinking, "Yeah, they do look more comicky than realistic." And you would be absolutely correct! See, when the paint goes down, that's when the fun begins, like working further with values and depths, past the maximum one can lock down with just mere graphite. And sure, I could have made these fellas look more realistic in graphite; however, I also wasn't working on a graphite-finish-friendly surface (like Bristol Board, for example) and wasn't using my typical graphite pencil for finished renderings (my trusty Ebony pencil).

So in the spirit of my previous Instagram-happy blog posts, howzabout we do a recap of what's been shakin' with this piece thus far?

Manny Pacquiao: Part one...The pencil stage

The start of my latest Manny Pacquiao painting. (Pencils on 11" X 14" cold press watercolor paper.) NEXT: watercolor paint and ink!

So, currently, I have a couple of art projects in various stages around the Coyote Den and that's a good thing. It means I always have something artsy to do when I'm not working my gig as a boxing news editor.

However, I needed to do something bigger when we in the media learned that eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao was likely to cancel a very short-lived retirement after defeating Tim Bradley in their third bout last April. At the same time, it also gave me the opportunity to start using my Periscope (a live-streaming video application) account.

HOWLERS! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You helped make my very first #Periscope #art/#MannyPacquiao #layout broadcast.a success! The best thing? My Baby, #MrsCoyote paying the live feed a visit. That meant the world to me, Honey. I LOVE You. ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ And the rest of you guys are awesome too! Stay tuned; I'm gonna make this a habit! #Boxing #BoxingArt #BoxingArtist #Illustration #Portraiture #Drawing #Portrait #Sketch #Champions #Artist #ArtLife #CoyoteDuran #CreationNation

A photo posted by Coyote Duran (@coyoteduran) on Jul 14, 2016 at 4:00pm PDT

Hagler-Hearns: 'The War' - Part one

On April 15, 1985 (my dad's 35th birthday and four days before my 14th), undisputed middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler ventured into Las Vegas, Nevada to meet the challenge of WBC junior middleweight titlist Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns in a much-anticipated defense coined, "The War." What transpired was seven minutes and 52 seconds of brutality and violence that went down in history as one of the greatest battles in boxing history, resulting in Hagler stopping Hearns in under three rounds. Absolutely and equally destructive and beautiful.

So when I earned a commission from a friend depicting one of the most famous scenes in boxing history, I was more than happy to oblige. This particular piece is done on 10" X 13" cold press watercolor paper and will ultimately be finished with watercolor paint and black ink - but, as I was working on my layout (in 2H graphite with my trusty leadholder), I got a little carried away.

As you can see, a (what should have been) simple, loose layout took on an identity of its own when I started filling in areas in which needed a certain amount of depth so they would look right to me at the moment. Next thing I knew, I was completing a full-blown piece before the final piece. I don't blame you if you're a little confused.

Long story short, I spent way more time on this than I should have but it turned out really cool and I had way more fun than I'm typically entitled to.

I posted some of the steps in the process (not a tutorial but just to show one and all - especially boxing fans - how things were looking) on my Instagram account, so go ahead and pop on over there if you missed it (no pressure)!

Stay tuned in a few days for the finished result. I'd totally appreciate it, Howlers!



Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hit me up at coyote@coyoteduran.com. You can also follow me at twitter.com/CoyoteDuran, instagram.com/coyoteduran and facebook.com/CDCreationNation.

Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney in graphite!

No matter what, one of the greatest, most fun things about creating art is the ability to give it freely to someone you care about.

Luckily, I got that chance as my nephew (by marriage), Zack Van Dyke - one of the greatest Disney-philes/aspiring Imagineers I've ever known - turned 23 on Sept. 26. And being that I rarely give my art as gifts (and why, I have no clue. It's easy, fun and really makes people feel good when they receive something meant for them and ONLY them), this latest piece is particularly special.

That said, I don't work in soft Ebony pencil graphite much but this piece (10" X 13" on Bristol Board) called for it. It had to show a modicum of class and reverence to the era in which Walt operated and it had to be fun and whimsical. I think I pulled that off. It also doesn't have to be hyper-photorealistic either. Were I Alex Ross, Felipe Massafera or Norman Rockwell, I would worry about that sort of thing. But I'm not.

And I'm perfectly OK with that.

After all, imagination has no guidelines, right? Just sketch or draw or paint or create, man. And be happy while you do it. You might wind up creating something really cool...like a mouse in short pants who rules the world. :)


Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hit me up at coyote@coyoteduran.com. You can also follow me at twitter.com/CoyoteDuran, instagram.com/coyoteduran and facebook.com/CDCreationNation.

Gennady "GGG" Golovkin!

Damn, I love portraiture. And damn, I love boxing! But I especially love combining both. And regrettably, it's been a bit since I've done a portrait of any fighter, much less one I really enjoy watching. That's why, in getting back on the horse (and I'm gonna do a lot of these in graphite and paint), I decided to render WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady "GGG" Golovkin. A power-punching badass in a piece that was totally fun to draw (2H lead on 9" X 12" Bristol Board).

So, Howlers, who would you like to see me render next? Comment here, on Facebook or tweet me and let me know!

ArtBar Aurora: He Would've Laughed...

When I was a teenager coming up in Aurora, my best pal was a cat named Jeff Jacobson. We spent a lot of time watching movies, listening to comedy or music before grabbing our guitars, picking out a key at random and seeing where it went from there. One day we were just sitting around talking about nothing in particular when I went on one of my signature - albeit irrelevant - tangents. It was off the top of my head, as it usually was, loaded with surreal improv and when I got to whatever point I was trying to make, Jeff looked at me and said...

"Dude, you're just like a young Robin Williams."

At the time, it was the nicest thing anyone ever said to me. It's still stuck in my top five all-time compliments.

See, Robin Williams is partially responsible for Coyote Duran. He made it safe to just roll with dialogue and imagination. He set the standard for what pro wrestling fans might call "mic skills" or "cutting a promo" without knowing he did it. It was just what he did. That goes for free thinking and speaking individuals everywhere. It's why cats like Eddie Izzard are just so damn intriguing to me. Sometimes a script just won't cut it.

Typically, celebrity deaths don't get to me even if they're celebrities I might have admired for one reason or another. And in this day and age, I care less to comment in their regard because of the weird co-opting of pain many others have when this cat or that chick bails this mortal coil. You know the ones.

"OMG. Lauren Bacall died. She was totes legendary. Too soon. Such a sad day. #RIP"

Who are you fooling? You're 13.

This one was different. Look, were the circumstances different - car accident, cancer, heart attack - I would have still felt a pretty sharp loss. But this was suicide. The guy who made everyone laugh (not to mention feel like they were children during the best part of their childhood) couldn't stick around of his own volition. That seriously blows and I hurt for the fact that he hurt while he was still here.

So when ArtBar Aurora returned from its summer hiatus on September 5, my offering for the "Hairy"-themed show was Robin Williams for the mere fact that everyone knew how hairy he was. Hell, even he joked about it. I titled the piece, "He Would've Laughed..." well, because he would have if he heard some cat created a piece in his likeness and entered it in an art show with "hairy" as the theme.

As for the portrait itself, it's done almost entirely in Ebony graphite (on Bristol Board, 11" X 14") with the exception for Robin's left eye, done in Prismacolor watercolor pencil.

It's not my typical graphite portrait but that's because Robin Williams wasn't typical. He was roiling, energetic, cartoony and gestural, not unlike this piece. There was a distinct freedom to working on it, slashing away with a pencil, hammering away at darks, just jamming away like you're with a childhood pal and you're grabbing your guitars, picking out a key at random and seeing where it goes from there.

It was fucking improvisational, man.

Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz!

(Please click image to isolate)

Not sure why I haven't posted this blast from the recent past but this graphite number of then-triple-crown lightweight titleholder/now-retired Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz is back from October 2007. I hated drawing that damn alphabet strap but what can ya do? I didn't do all the hard work to win it. (Graphite on Bristol Board)

Kurt Cobain

Another artsy Christmas gift? You bet! This one was a quick portrait (and I do mean "quick." From start-to-finish, it took less than three days) of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain that I did right after completing the Road warriors acrylic. It was a Christmas gift for my nephew, David Wagner, since he's been a Cobain fan forever. Graphite on Bristol Board, 11" X 14", December, 2010

Charles Harl

Some say an artist has a gift in doing what he or she does. I'm inclined to think being an artist means you can give someone a meaningful gift. This is a rendering of my ex-mother-in-law's late father (and my ex-wife, Debbie's grandfather), Charles Harl, and was given to her as a birthday gift in September 2007. The inset is the reference the piece was based on.  Graphite on Bristol Board. "9 X 13".

Marvelous Marvin Hagler

Marvelous Marvin Hagler! Need I say more? Another great fave of mine. LOVED working on this one. Done in graphite on Bristol Board as a gift for a Doghouse Boxing message boarder, "Ali."

Jayne Mansfield

One of my favorite females stars of all-time, Jayne Mansfield. I absolutely loved drawing her but made the mistake of using a denser lead; hence the difficulty in scanning. Graphite on Bristol Board. From March, 2007.

Brandon Lee as Eric Draven/"The Crow"

Brandon Lee as "The Crow." Graphite on Bristol Board.

John Lennon

My secret project: A graphite-on-Bristol Board portrait of John Lennon for my sister/huge Beatles nerd, Courtney. It was a gift for her 18th birthday/graduation. :)

Carmen Basilio

The great champion Carmen Basilio, done in graphite on Bristol Board as a commission for friend, Eugene Collins.

Diego "Chico" Corrales

The late, great World Lightweight Champ and pal of mine, Diego Corrales. Done in graphite on Bristol Board for the Maxboxing fund-raising auction to raise money for Corrales' family.

Jack Dempsey

The legendary Jack Dempsey, done in graphite on Bristol Board.

The X-Files' Fox Mulder, John Doggett and Dana Scully

From back in 2002 and 'The 'X-Files', Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Graphite on sketch paper.