From my Illustration Portfolio – Kate Bush Portrait

Kate Bush

As with my previous portrait illustrations, Hannibal Lectar and Elvis Presely, this was copied from a photo, in this case, a record sleeve.

This was one of the most intricate and time consuming portraits completed. Kate’s long hair proved to be the culprit for eating huge chunks out of my evening. Not sure it was the best route to take, but I just used a hard ‘H3′ pencil and press quite hard to draw lots of fine lines, then went over with a softer ‘B’ range pencil to create the various shades of grey and black. Then used a rubber to create subtle highlights. Not being taught art at college, it was all just the best way at the time.

In terms of impact, this is a real fav of mine. It was an earlier portrait, so before some of my other attempts where I had picked up a few methods to improve overall feel. But even so, still a winner for me.

Some TLC

As with all my original drawings, many have seen better days.There has been a slight use of Photoshop in this version. As these were drawn some years ago, the original sheets have become slightly soiled, the odd crease and pencil marks being worn away. Not to mention light fade. So a high resolution scan then some retouching to bring it back to close to how it originally looked before the soft ‘B’ pencil marks were rubbed and faded away. I have really boosted the shadow areas in this version, but the pencil marks in the mid-tones and highlight areas still very much visible.

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