Great Afternoon Brunch...
Sundays are the best days. Often they are filled with good friends, eating, and coffee!
Sundays are brunch days. Yes, you can eat brunch any day, but on Sundays, especially in the south there is a culture that is surrounded by weekend brunch…and I love it.
This Sunday a group of us went to Radial Café for an afternoon brunch. Put any thoughts of brunch being defined by time. It is an experience of friendship and the breaking of bread with those friends, and for me it is all centered around that delicious, ceramic mugged, bitter, bold, caffeinated fluid. Gouda Scramble was the piece de resistance- ordered by 4 out of the 7 members of the group. This day I chose the Salmon Scramble and do believe that I have found a new favorite.
This Sunday also happened to be the first chilly day of the cold season. I arrived in a t-shirt and soon needed to dapper up to eat in cozy comfort. Click the middle image to see the way brunch dandy dresses.
Sunflowerman and Atlanta Street Fashion...
Happened to be in the right place, wearing the right stuff, at the right time. Met Sir Adams, the administrator and creative mind behind the Atlanta Street Fashion blog and we hit it off. The day began as fabulous as one could imagine. I gave myself an extra hour of sleep and still awoke at 7 in the morn. The first order of business was a watercolor concept for some oven designs. Next came the technical work in that powerful adobe application, Illustrator.
By 9:30 I was off to wisp my beautiful girlfriend to Utrecht for a paper run. On my traversing the winding paths of Atlanta's roadways I made a pit stop at the bank and found my way to my favorite Coffee spot. Yet again Condesa Coffee served as a mystifying union for strategic meetings and creative energy.
It was at Condesa that I met up with John Cutrell, who magically configured my wordpress.com address to read as sunflowerman.com. Almost immediately after I met Cameron Adams. You can see the rest of what happened below.
Bowties...
Watch how I make a bow tie! As a part of the fashion series this video is an entertaining diversion that will take you on a journey with me and the music of The Bamboos in the creation of a Book Page Fashion Illustration. .
Enjoy
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jJX4qDK9ck&w=560&h=315]
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Fashion…Suave
I was recently invited to be a featured artist at an event by Zero Gravity Concept Salon. I relished the opportunity and created the following piece to show at the event.
Below is the evolution of the painting.
Fashion Illustrations… Dictionary Pages
Here are more men's fashion illustrations placed on dictionary pages. It just keeps getting better!
This new collection takes the mastery of the ink and brush and highlights the great qualities of men's fashion. Sometimes the focus is on the cut of the jacket and sometimes it is on the color of the shirt and tie.
My goal is to highlight and focus on the spirit of men's fashion in an innovative and creative manner.
Fashion Illustration… James Martin
Met this guy at Condesa the other day. He was dressed so well and I couldn't help myself so I introduced myself, shot a few pics, and this is the result.
enjoy
MADMEN… an Illustrated Series
To go along with my fashion illustrations I thought it would be best (astride the prodding of my roommate Alex) to do a few character studies from MADMEN. They are all classy fellas with a large fan base and quite recognizable faces. I hope that you enjoy these illustrations and if you wish to purchase prints you can do that through behance
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Fashion Illustration… D.R.E.S and GQ
Since the very last post prior to this one is about the original illustration I will not go on for long. This is the sixth GQ cover in the series so far (the rest found here). I might say I am actually getting quite good at this. So step down this way and take a look at the newest edition of the illustrated GQ with D.R.E.S. ThaBeatnik.
Fashion Illustration… Dres Tha Beatnik
I was walking through Starbucks to see a friend. As I was walking this gentleman caught my eye. He was dressed very well and had this character about himself that was quite attractive. After grabbing my coffee I walked over to where he was seated and asked if I could use him as a part of my fashion portrait series. His name is Dres D-R-E-S (dr-ah-s). Can't lie, I struggled pronouncing Dres correctly.
It turns out that he is a local Atlanta musician, perhaps even a local celebrity. He handed me a copy of his recent album, I snapped a pic on my phone and we parted ways.
This is what came of that interaction. Also, check out his myspace and enjoy the mix.
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Fashion Illustration… Mikey and GQ
Mike McLaughlin is a good friend of mine. We graduated high school together and I saw him evolve in a way. I can't say that I have ever dressed 'better' than Mr. McLaughlin- No, he has always been at least one step ahead as far as fashion is concerned- but I did get to see a bit of a transformation. After High School Mike began to see this dapper man emerging, not a different person but a different image. It was a more polished image, stylish one might say. Whereas before he was simply aware of his presence he was now taking command of it. This is something that will take him far when he is touring the world and orchestrating symphonies.
Mike is a good friend and well dressed fellow.
Here are a couple good links relating to this article Mikey Illustration Behance
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Fashion Photo Shoot…
Just did a photoshoot with the great Shawn Cuni. He is a fabulous photographer. This is a little preview he sent over to me after the shoot. I am so pumped to get this next set of images and cannot wait to share them with everyone!
Thanks Cuni. umf.
Fashion Illustration… Ken Tran
Ken Tran is this dapper fella I know. He has a style all his own and he wears it in the most impressive fashion. Not from Atlanta, but making darn sure that Atlanta stays chic in his wake.
Fashion Illustration… Kamau and GQ
George is not an Atlanta native, but he is an Atlanta man. One thing that always strikes me about George is his sense of style, especially in regards to attending the Atlanta night-scene's dance clubs. Another thing about George is his keen entrepreneurial eye. He's got a knack for flipping shoes and perhaps a few other things that I might not want to share here.
Without further ado, George Kamau on the cover of GQ!!
If you missed it before I have linked here the first time we met George here on the blog.
Fashion Portrait… Lushlife and GQ
The next installment in the mock GQ covers is the Lushlife cover! Linked here is the original Lushlife post if you missed it.
And here's what it would look in the real life.
Fashion Portrait…Cuni
Shawn Cuni is one of the coolest people you could ever know. I had the pleasure of being his roommate for a while and respect him as a person and a creative. Few people are as neat and organized, and few people have his potential.Check out his instagram @psjc and the website on flickr Shawn Cuni
All of that said his street fashion is what we are focusing on today. You might think 'hipster' upon meeting him- at least that is what comes to my mind- then you find out his love for PBR and Radiohead and you know that's probably a good assessment. During a night of chilling on the porch I snapped a few photos and brought them home to paint.
I started this painting by pasting pages from an old book onto hardboard with matte medium. Then I proceeded to sketch out the basic forms with a colored pencil. After that I go over the lines with waterproof india-ink. After that dries I pool in washes of watercolor and add highlights with white acrylic paint. Finally I add shadows and washes of other colors to bring out the form and it's complete!
Fashion Portrait… Dapper Lou and GQ
I was going through the Dapper Lou the other day and doing some quick sketches. The one below was highly inspirational so I decided to do an actual painting of it.
The painting turned out great! The process is basically the same as the past few paintings. I start with an underdrawing then move to acrylic, india ink and watercolor. Variously throughout I use any of the mediums to make one part pop or to turn something down. You can see below how things change throughout the painting process.
For some time now I have wanted to get into 'real world' fashion illustration. Simply put I want to get paid to do what I do. A friend suggested that I might benefit from doing some mock covers for magazines that I am interested in illustrating for. The images below show what came out of that discussion. I hope you enjoy, and stay tuned for more to come.
Redeemed Book! and the Dapper Lou...
I had some pages that fell out of a book I was reading and decided to have some fun with them instead of tossing them. It's one of the few times that saving useless junk came in handy. These pages can no longer be lumped in the same useless category as the slabs of dried acrylic paint in my drawer, or the oddly shaped scraps of paper cut from old projects, or the plastic scraps from the used, dried masking fluid. No, these pages have been redeemed! And special thanks again to the Dapper Lou. I was perusing the site again and found endless inspiration for sketching.
Fashion Portrait… Brandon Sadler and the Black Goldfish
I did this Fashion Portrait of a friend of mine a while back now. I have mixed feelings about this piece. There is so much great about it and a few things that irk me. Things such as my lack of thought about the background. Overall the painting showcases the character and the clothes very well. Featured here is Brandon Sadler. He is a painter based in Atlanta, GA. He has been involved in the growing street art scene with a mural near the Studioplex in the Old Fourth Ward and has shown his work all over the city including work at the ABV gallery.
Brandon allowed me to photograph him while he was painting so I could capture the moment as it would be in real life. I went home and compiled a series of images of him painting and several images of suits from the 1920's. I love the idea that someone would always dress so dapper even when painting and not give a second thought to where the paint might end up. Several compositional drawings later I began. I struggled with the placement of Brandon in relation to the fish and probably drew at least 15 18x24'' sketches to get it exactly right.
This piece was so much fun to work on. Despite my reservations about the background it came together beautifully and it is part of a progressive process in my own work.
Brandon Sadler. 18x24". Acrylic, watercolor and india ink on hardwood board.
