Brothers

Graphite, Charcoal, Scotch tape on Vellum Bristol, colored in Photoshop

7 x 10"

It's no secret that The Black Keys latest album, Brothers, was one of the best listening experiences of 2010.

My favorite tracks: Everlasting Light, Tighten Up, Unknown Brother and Never Gonna Give You Up. Adding some simple bass and keys did amazing things for their sound (fuller, richer) and the songwriting is more efficient than ever.

This piece, in almost every aspect, is the complete opposite of what I was doing in the previous post. With M.I.A. it was all about diving into some chaos and seeing what sense I could make of it, but here I meticulously planned, sketched, drew, and colored. I gave myself a very generous amount of time at each stage, and to be honest it was tough. I've become accustomed to working quickly and zipping through each stage with too little retrospection. It's far too easy (especially when you are working against a deadline with a paycheck in the balance) to forget to give yourself a little time away from the work, and come back with a fresh pair of eyes.

I tried a different color palette than I would normally choose, and I want it known that it was incredibly difficult to resist throwing some bright, saturated orange in there.

Doing work for myself/portfolio has been therapeutic, I'm feeling more inspired than I have in a good while. Expect more music pieces in the future!

Sketch of the composition. Beginning of final drawing.

Final drawing complete! Preliminary flatting in PS.

I'm considering getting some prints made of this piece to sell, any chance people would want to buy them? I've been toying with the idea of selling prints of other pieces as well. I'm open to suggestions.