So not everything on Foogos is food (as the weekend’s 9-11 highlights show). I’m an avid wrestling fan, and I always mean to get back into traditional art: drawing, painting, etc, just to keep my skills from dulling any further than they may already be.
I wanted to make another wrestling portrait to go along with the Blue Demon and Macho Man art I created back around Memorial Day. I think my brother suggested Papa Shango. That’s always the first wrestler he thinks of because… uh. I don’t know. Probably this:
I love when Mr. Perfect says, “I have never seen anything like this before,” at the 2:07 mark. And why would he? The guy’s a pro wrestler. Probably never had a desk job, or a pen explode in his hands.
Well, whatever the case, a Papa Shango portrait is the challenge. Here’s where I’m at so far:
You’ll notice I mix the paint (acrylic) right on the canvas. I don’t typically do that, but I’m so disorganized that I couldn’t find my palette, and in all honestly, it doesn’t even matter. It might even make a cool effect when I’m done.
I think this is a cool photo because it really shows the full progression of the work. On the right (and in the middle), it’s just white canvas and some rough penciling to get the general shapes down. Then there’s the first layer of paint (the dark brown, and most of the black on the page), again, simply to serve as a loose marker for what goes where. That gross blob on the right will eventually become a hand. The neck and head are mostly finished, with a final coat of paint, shadows, highlights, the works. There’s definitely still work to do there, but it’s mostly fine-tuning.
I should have this finished, but I work on this painting at my folks’ place, which I visit about once a week, sometimes once every two weeks, depending on what’s for supper and how much laundry I have. (Zing! Just kidding. I love you, Mom and Dad. But seriously. Saturday night. Meatloaf. Make it rain.)
In all, I probably chip away at this portrait for 30 minutes a week. At this pace, I should be done around Christmas.
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