Thursday, February 19, 2009

Time Out New York: Kathy Griffin

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This week's "Hot Seat" subject for Time Out New York was comedienne Kathy Griffin, who was doing some shows in the city.

I had originally wanted to do a portrait of Kathy in the style of this Liza Minnelli album cover, which I always thought was visually striking, plus it had the virtue of being very diva-ish, something I thought Kathy would appreciate (diva-ish behavior is something she mentions in her act fairly regularly).

So I tried a portrait in that same manner, but all in blue. After doing the whole piece that way, I stepped back, looked at it...and it didn't work. I can't say why it didn't work, exactly, but it didn't. It looked harsh and weird and, worst of all, it really didn't look recognizable. I sighed, created a new file, and started all over again. (Someday I'll figure out what I did wrong)

In the end, I went with this version, which is a lot more straightforward. I liked the addition of the glowing lights, giving you the feel that Kathy is on stage, basking in the attention.


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