Dad

This is my father. We have never lived together, he has another family and so on, but we're on good terms. I took his photo in December 2009, a couple of months before my departure from Tbilisi. Usually he wears only a moustache, no beard, but he had quite a stubble on that occasion. I really liked his grizzled beard and told him that I was gonna take his picture and draw his portrait from it when I had time, so he gladly posed.

I haven't seen him for 16 months and I really miss him. Last month I decided to finally sit down to the portrait. It dragged on, as usual, but now it's finally finished.


I believe it's my fourth attempt in oil pastels, and it seems I'm slowly getting my hand in this medium. I usually try to develop the colors and shades evenly and gradually, as I was taught back in the art school, but this time I chose to proceed in a different manner, finishing separate parts almost completely. As you see from the WIP shots below, first I rendered the central part, then the top area, and lastly the bottom part.

The drawing was done on a grey pastel paper with a smooth finish. Colors blended easily and I didn't have to use any chisels or such for blending, just an occasional finger-work. Here's a zoomed detail to show the technique up close and personal.

Spring in Your Eyes

It seems that spring has finally come to Lithuania. It's in the air, and it's irresistible. Yesterday, on the last day of April, as I was planting some potatoes in our kitchen garden, I felt a sudden urge to draw something for the season, quick and simple. So here's my humble tribute to the beauty of spring.

It's done with H, HB and 5B pencils and a mechanical pencil. The model was Diana, of course. Below you can see the work in progress and a zoomed detail.

Pegė Logo

Last month I won a logo contest at uzdarbis.lt, a Lithuanian design-related forum. The logo was for an online store for baby products, such as prams, soothers, etc. This is the final version the client chose:
Next, they asked me to help with the facade design for their physical store, fitting in style with the new logo. The process turned out to be quite long, mainly because of the window design, which went through numerous trials and tribulations, until it was finally approved sometime in the middle of April.


But that's not all. The final task was creating the website header. They wanted something cheerful, in the mood of the logo. I liked the idea of their draft header, which included sun, fluffy clouds and a rainbow, so I decided to offer my version of it. Here's the result:

I know, I wasn't much of a blogger this month, but I have quite a few ongoing projects, so, hopefully, I'll be more active next month. See ya!

Laura

This little lady is my wife's cousin's daughter (genealogically, I believe the term "first cousin once removed" would be more correct). It's my gift for her birthday, which is in May. I did it so early because we need time to frame it and ship it to Israel, where she lives with her family.


The drawing has been done with Giotto Stilnovo pastel pencils on Canson Vivaldi Crème paper. Below you can see the work in progress and a zoomed detail. I apologize for the WIP shot quality -- the paper didn't fit into my scanner and to avoid the stitching routine at each stage, I was taking the pictures with my camera, which is in fact a cell phone.

Project 24

Project 24 is a soon-to-be-launched charity initiative by Oceanida, a Georgian fish products brand. Each time someone buys a product which has a Project 24 sticker on it, 1% of the profit goes to a special fund, equally distributed among 24 orphanages (or Children Homes, as we call them in Georgia). It's a very good cause and I'm proud to be working on such a project as a designer.


The logo conveys the idea behind the project by depicting a house-shaped money box where the aforementioned 1% of the profit is put in the form of a coin. The small sticker (see below) adhered to the products explains more details, but the full information will be provided through the media advertisement campaign which is going to be launched along with the project.

Lips of Color of Blood - Cover Design

This is the cover design for Lips of Color of Blood, a novel by Jurii Kirnev. The artwork is based on Nocturnal Interlude, a drawing from the mini-series of illustrations I did for this novel earlier this year.

I removed the grave in the foreground (see the original artwork) in order to make room for the inscriptions. My font choice for this project was Andalus (actually, it's an Arabic font, but it features a nice Latin typeface, too). I especially enjoyed working on the word BLOOD -- I used some vector grunge stock elements to create that "blood-soiled" effect.

Happy 8th of March!

In case you didn't know, today is the International Women's Day. It's an especially popular holiday in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet countries. Originally a Socialist political event, today it's just a day for celebrating beauty, love and all the other wonderful things associated with the better half of mankind.

Technically, it's spring in Lithuania, but there's a thick layer of snow on the ground, so I can't pick any flowers. Of course, I could buy them in the local shop, but this is so cliche! Besides, I don't have any cash at the moment, and the flower traders don't accept credit cards. Long story short, I decided to make a paper flower for my wife. It's my first paper craft ever, so don't laugh!


The text on the improvised card is in Georgian and it reads: "Happy 8th of March, my love!" I'd like to wish a happy Woman's Day to my wife, my ex-wife, their mothers, my mother, my sisters, and all the other women out there. Let your men treat you every day like it's the 8th of March!