new illo started!

this illustration will be a print as well as a notecard. all about brooklyn and its wacky individuals.

it still needs color! but it's a start!

top secret project is complete!

woo-hoo! just finished the painting for the top secret project. again, if you know this person, then shush.

detail of the face.

detail of the hand.

this is the pic i was working from for the piece. it's actually 2 photos put together. i like to work from multiple images, and had some other photos of the subject here for inspiration and feel. 

top secret update!

*almost* done. just need to do the hair and i'm finished. but i can't complete it tonight. we will meet again...

update on painting progress...

i got a lot done!

sneak peek! current portrait project...

this one is on the DL. big secret surprise portrait. if you know who this is... keep your mouth shut! LOL

sneak peek! new invites fresh off the press...

can't give you guys all the details yet. but i just got these back from peter kruty editions, and they are FABULOUS. they just look better than i could have imagined.

can you guess the setting?

a newly found old commisssion

i'm in the process of updating my websites, and i was looking for work that i have not yet shown off. sadly, it seems as though i've lost a lot of files throughout the years.

that's the bad news.

the good news is, i found something i thought was lost forever. a private commission i did in 2006.

"the girls", a private commission. © nicillustration 2006

this piece was commissioned by my then-boss of his 3 daughters for his wife. it was a very large painting -- 4 ft wide by 3 ft high, i think, or something like that -- and was to be hung in their second home in miami. he wanted something modern, but his idea of "modern" just, you know, wasn't (like warhol was actually current).

so i started going through my library for inspiration. sebastian kruger is always a major source of inspiration for me, and i found just what i needed in his collection -- a group portrait of the stones (his favorite subject) that showed each band member in a different "panel" of sorts. they all had their own background and color schemes. yet, it works together.

so i took that idea and pushed it a little further. i took photos of my client's daughters, each in a different location at their home. different lighting, different backgrounds. then i took a group shot of them together. i used the images to come up with a composition where each of the girls had their own color scheme and setting, but yet were actually interacting with each other and reaching across the panels, taking on the new setting/color scheme of the panel they carried into.

it took me a long time to work on the piece. about 6 months total. but i think the end product was worth it.

glad i found the photo.