Cristiano Siqueira Master Study

I decided to do my second master study based on a portrait of Leonard Mlodinow by Brazilian artist, Cristiano Siqueira. He deals mostly with vector art, which I consider to be my biggest weakness (i.e. worst nightmare), so I felt like I should give it a go.

Here is his original:




Here's my copy:




1) First I put down all the areas of flat color with the pen tool. Here's a start:



2) I did the line work with the blob brush.



I added a gradient to some of the lines and increased the transparency in some spots so that not everything read straight black. I used the blend tool to do the upper lip.



3) Last, I added the hair (random numbers) and the background (transparent formulas, numbers, symbols, etc.). I warped the background and the characters on his jacket with a wave. Blend tool is used for the top of his jacket and the lines in the background. Gradients are added to the white lines on the left side of the jacket.


It took forEVER to complete but I suppose I'm happy with it. Kind of. On second look, some of the lines could definitely be a lot smoother and a lot thinner (should have used a smaller, more oval brush probably) but overall I suppose the idea is captured.