(Note: I designed the original graphic in portrait orientation, but I’ve rotated it to fit on this page, which is why the frame’s proportions are a bit funky.)
Feeling inspired by an emphatic Arsenal victory earlier today (7:00am kickoff, woohoo!), and eager to try a few things out in Illy, I whipped up this caricature of Per Mertesacker. Instead of tracing an image, or – God forbid – lazily tweaking a vectorized image, I freehanded this puppy from scratch, using a couple of photos for reference.
As you can surely tell, I don’t have much experience sketching portraits (digitally or on paper) – and by much experience, I mean any experience at all – and so this mini-project was certainly a foray into foreign territory for me. Nevertheless, I’m relatively pleased with the result. Yeah, the shading is pretty whack and Per doesn’t really look like a real human being (much less, well, Per), but I enjoyed the process, and certainly learned a thing or two along the way. I might whip up one or two more Arsenal portraits in the upcoming days, just for fun. Bug-eyed Özil is obviously next on the docket.
Also, for all the profanity-averse moms out there, let it be known that I did not coin this nickname. That said, I sure wish I did.
