This was the most fun I have had making a piece. Simply put, I wanted a self-portrait, so I drew a self-portrait. I wanted to pay homage to a couple of my favorite illustrators, Mark Riddick and Toshihiro Egewa. Those two have inspired a huge amount of my past and present work, so this was my way of sort of thanking them indirectly for their work. Everything about this, I am happy with: the line work, the hair, the jaw detail, everything fits well within itself. 

To make this piece, I basically worked from the top down, starting with a general outline of my upper head, then pushing detail further and further until I got to where I wanted it. The fun part came in with the jaw. Recreating the bone structure to look like it could feasibly fit in with the shape of my face was not a challenge I foresaw in the beginning but I faced it, and it works. 

The biggest thing I learned from this piece was how much I enjoy minimalism in my work. I used to think portraits, and drawing in general for that matter, worked better with clearly defined lines and shapes, but that isn’t always true. With this piece omitting a fair section of the head works better than having there.