I've been working on this commission for the past 3 months, mostly straight through, excluding Christmas and a few freelance projects sprinkled here and there and I'm psyched to finally have the chance to show it to the world. I tend to complete most pieces within a week or two. It's very hard for me to sit with something too long because I just get antsy and start thinking of all the other things I want to get working on but having a few things to work on on the side helped me from getting restless and actually showed me I am able to juggle 2-3 pieces at a time. I think having so many different characters to draw that I had never drawn before also kept me very engaged. And, I always look forward to a chance to draw ol' Sly Stallone. Dude seriously has one of the best faces to draw out of anyone.
Originally, it was planned that after I laid the ink and paint down that would be where I crossed the finishing line. But, a friend mentioned they thought the original idea was that gold leaf was going to be added, which the client and I hadn't planned on, and I honestly can't believe we didn't. So, that being a total no-brainer, I got busy testing out how to lay down gold leaf. This was a totally new technique for me and I had a great time learning how to use it and I'm hoping to continue to apply it to my work in the future.
Now having the piece finished and after a few days of looking at it, I'm really happy we continued past just using fluid acrylic for the halos. They seem a tad too bright with the cad yellow and the gold leaf really calms them down and adds a bit of seriousness to the silly cartoon vibe of the piece.
Now it is complete. Some close-up shots below to give a good idea how the gold leaf looks when the light catches it just right.
