John Wayne Illustrations, The Hubble Telescope, & More Pleas To Hit The Voting Booth

[John Wayne Digital Illustration. Click to enlarge. ©Amy Hood, 2011]

I did this illustration for use in an upcoming issue for a local publication. The story was on John Wayne, and I couldn't find any good hi-resolution photos of the Duke, so I decided to illustrate something. Since I have been doing a lot of star illustrations lately, I decided to do the illustration with the theme of "Orange County's Brightest Star." I used a photo of The Duke that I liked and recreated his face in illustrator using the pen tool. I just made shape after shape after shape after shape until it turned into something slightly resembling Ole' John. I wasn't too sure about how it would look at the beginning, but now that it's done I think it's one of my best illustrations yet! I used to have an unnatural hatred for the pen tool, but once you get the hang of it, it's great. For the planets in the illustration I visited the Hubble Telescope website and downloaded a bunch of their BEAUTIFUL (and FREE) images to use as a pattern. I want to paint my walls a dark blue and paint some nebula and galaxies on it. Then I could let all my friends draw their own constellations on it when they came over.

[Here's a detail of John's head that I recreated using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. Click to enlarge.]

Also, don't forget, today is the last day to vote for me at ArtistsWanted.org. I need all the help I can get from you lovely folks. :)

Cheers
- Amy
Listening to: Cage The Elephant's "Shake Me Down"