Historic Trauma - Zelda Fitzgerald

This is an illustration of Zelda Fitzgerald for Merion Matters, Inc. This will be in Advance News Magazine's Nursing publications accompanying one of the "Historic Trauma" articles. I've done a few of these over the years. I really liked doing these themed portrait illustrations. They've made a nice little portfolio. If you'd like to see more, please CLICK HERE.

As I am moving on from Merion next week to pursue more freelance, this will probably be my last illustration for the company. It's been a great experience designing and illustrating for them. I met some great friends and had some excellent supervisors. Moving on is never easy. I am sad that I won't be seeing my coworkers on a regular basis anymore, but I also look forward to what lies ahead.

Update: Frédéric Chopin Historic Trauma Illustration

I finished this piece for Advance News Magazines. I posted the pencil draft of the illustration HERE. Since there only seemed to be one photograph taken of Chopin shortly before he died, the reference I had was kind of ghoulish. Nonetheless, it was a fun picture to draw. I took a slightly different approach this time. I kept the original drawing in pencil in my sketchbook and did the inks on tracing paper. I actually did the inks on several layers of tracing paper and scanned them in as separate layers in Photoshop, giving me a little more play once I got into the colors.

Historic Trauma Cases # 3

Recently I was given assignments to draw Steve Allen and Frédéric François Chopin for my job at Advance News Magazines. I thought it was interesting, both being piano players. I know very little about Steve Allen aside from the Tonight Show and the CDs I have with him playing as Jack Kerouac recites poetry. Steve is finished here in the style of all the other Historic Trauma illustrations...

I know even less of Chopin, but I like how intense he looks in the one known photograph that was thought to be taken in 1849, the year of his death. I referenced that photo, which can be found all over the internet. This drawing is still in its rough stages, but I wanted to give an early stage of the process before I pretty him up with ink and color. So this is Frederic as he now sits in my Moleskine sketchbook, waiting to become a final draft. This is usually what my final pencil sketches look like before I get feedback and approval from editorial staff...

I think I have John Lennon coming up in the next couple months. That will be some fun drawing time.

Historic Trauma Cases # 2

As stated here back in September, I have been drawing the spot illustrations for Advance News Magazine’s “Historic Trauma” articles. These articles run in several medical magazines and seem to focus mainly on cases of famous people’s deaths. It seems there are usually some kind of conclusive statements that express how the person’s life could have been saved if they were alive today or if their ailments were treated differently.

The editors have me work in with old-tymie sepia tones and antique cross-hatching and brush work. It’s always a challenge when doing portrait work to somehow make it your own, especially when you are looking at someone else’s photo(s) reference. After all, photography is an art form, and you never want to completely rip off another artist.

President William Howard Taft

The Apollo 1 Astronauts (Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Pilot Roger B. Chaffee, and Senior Pilot Edward H. White) who died during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center.

John Thoreau (Henry David’s Brother)

Father Vincent Robert Capodanno, Jr. (The Grunt Padre)

And Charles Dickens (my favorite of the bunch)

Historic Trauma - Cleopatra

With the "Cleopatra" exhibit currently at the Franklin Institute, I guess it's no surprise that Advance News Magazine for Nurses picked her for their "Historic Trauma Cases" section this month. I was a little worried, because a great artist and good friend of mine Paul Palcko used to do all of the illustrations for this section of the magazine. Those are some really big shoes to fill. I remember a painting Paul did of Bessie Smith for this section some months back that was awesome. I had to make it clear when I was assigned the illustration that I had a completely different style than Paul, and I couldn't even pretend to draw like he does. Thankfully, the editor and the Illustration department head understood.

I did the original illustration in pen and ink.

Then I touched it up digitally with a smooth vector halo and added warm colors in Photoshop.