Viking Portrait: Ikvar the Black

I was looking though one of my many sketch books and found a couple of Viking faces staring back and me. The first one I decided to complete was a profile picture, because I haven't seem to have done too many of these.

This is Ikvar the Black, if I recall viking history correctly men would get the name the Black because of the color of their hair. I imagined that Ikvar would be a hard and quiet man who some didn't trust, but in truth he was the most trust worthy in the party. Sadly, this wasn't realized until it was too late for Ikvar.

Grandpa Swede Portrait

Yesterday would have been my grandfather's 81st birthday. This is a portrait to commemorate the day. He was always my favorite to draw when I was a little kid - he was so easy with a big red nose and handle bar mustache, and he loved my cruel little portraits that I drew (not every one else was a fan of the things I picked up on). Every year for his birthday he wanted a birthday card from me. To continue the tradition I've decided to make a portrait of him every July 20th. This is a portrait of him as I remember him best, the only thing missing is his cigarette.

The Truth About Atlas

I did this sketch for my daily sketch blog as part of my Moustache Monday series (all two of them). Being a big fan of moustaches and knowing their mighty power I decided that they could in fact hold up the world at the point of a handlebar moustache much in the way Atlas holds up the world in Greek mythology. So I drew what I knew to be the truth that Atlas did not hold the world up with his arms but instead at the point of his giant handle bar moustache.

















I wanted to create this piece in Illustrator and make it look like a cut out.
I tried my hand at a technique illustrated in Steph Laberis’ blog, and am pleased with the outcome.


















Here is the final version; I changed his eyes to make his face look stronger and I changed his nose to be read because I though it ,might be an interesting contrast and add some more color to his face.