This was a caricature that I did of James Dean to experiment with different techniques and really try to push my limits of stylization.

I began working on this piece by looking at tons of reference of James Dean himself. I knew the overall feeling that I wanted this piece to have, but I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to get there. After researching reference, I began sketching out different ideas of what his face could look like and the different wasy that I could push it while still maintaining that likeness. 

After sketching out many different ideas, I knew that I wanted to really push his strong brow line, his big slicked-back hair, and his big mouth. So I came up with a strong revised sketch before I started the painting process. 

My painting process is fairly straight-forward. I don't really mess around with many different layers to attain the overall aesthetic. I typically will just have a sketch layer on a low enough opacity to barely see it, I lay down a neutral grey tone to paint on, and then I just simply paint on one layer for the majority of the final piece. 

Once I had the face pretty close to how I wanted it, I began thinking about the background. Even though I work digitally, I try to paint with a very traditional aesthetic and allow the viewer to see my process and brushstrokes that went into creating the final art. So I began experimenting with textured brushes for the painterly effect that I wanted to achieve before coming to a final solution.