small ink portrait commission

[mollybrooks]

last week i was commissioned to do a small two-color ink portrait in the style of a book i made. it was very straightforward and painless; the couple that hired me were super nice and enthusiastic about everything, which was lovely.





They sent me to their myspace page to find a good reference photo, and i picked this one, bc i thought it was adorable and nicely composed:


i initially debated doing a really close (traced) copy of the photo, but decided to use it as the basis for a freehand drawing, instead. this is the sketch i sent for approval:


once they'd okay'd the sketch, i refined it with my beloved paint markers until it was clean enough to use as a guide for the final inks:


then i retraced the drawing on a light table with nib and brush. i used liquitex yellow oxide acrylic ink, and a mixed blue/black india ink. the whole process took about 10 hours.

final ink drawing, about 8x11":