Athlete Portrait: St. Louis Cardinals' Outfielder Tommy Pham
It's been 2-3 years since I last drew one of the St. Louis Cardinals (or since I last drew any digital art period), but now that I have the time and some reference photos of players who managed to stay with the team during the off-season I can finally start drawing some athletes from the best team in baseball again (and I can finally stop disappointing all the ladies at my grandma's assisted living center with my lack of additions to my portrait roster)! First up is one of my current favorites, Tommy Pham. It took me a little bit of time to get reacquainted with Corel Painter, but once I finally got back into the swing of things I managed to turn out a pretty decent drawing. So I've done my part on my end, now the Cardinals need to make Pham an offer he can't refuse so he will still be around next season, both to contribute to the team, and to sign this drawing for me at the 2019 Winter Warmup. Fingers crossed!
Original Photo: This photo was taken from my seat at the September 30th game against the Milwaukee Brewers. I really need to become friends with someone who has a better camera, or is an on staff photographer or something. The photos I can get at the Cardinals' games are good enough for this style of portrait when I get decent seats, but if I ever want to do colored pencil portraits of up close shots or anything then what I can get myself just won't do. ESPECIALLY when it comes to the St. Louis Blues' players. I'd love to be able to draw some of them as well, but my seats are always too high and the players are always too fast for my camera.
Materials Used:
Original Sketch:
Strathmore Recycled Sketch Paper – Fine Tooth Surface
Lead Holders w/ 2H lead and HB lead
Final Drawing:
Wacom intuos 5 Touch Professional Pen Tablet
Corel Painter 2016
Pens – Flat Color 2 (for initial black outline and base colors)
Airbrushes – Digital Airbrush and Detail Airbrush (for highlights and shadows, details, final outline, etc.)
Digital Water Color – Flat Water Blender (for background)
Progress Pics:
Time-Lapse Video: This one is a little lengthy compared to the other time-lapse videos I've posted so far, but bumping the speed up anymore was just TOO fast.
Time Spent: 24 hours and 50 minutes. Did I mention that I was super rusty when it comes to digital art? Hopefully I can knock that time total down with my next portrait.
Up Next: I'm currently waiting for the reference photos for a 3 dog composition that is looking to be one of the largest portraits I've done yet. So in the meantime, I'll probably start penciling out another Cardinal, Paul DeJong.
Until next time! Lauren H.
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