Andy Grammer - Miss Me

"Cos you gotta Keep Your Head Up, oh. You can let your hair down, eh!


Keep Your Head Up! Cos it's Andy Grammer! I found out about him about a month ago, with his song "Keep Your Head Up". First time I listened to it, I fell in love with it. Immediately after, I went and ordered his album online as it just came out as well! He's really one of my favourite artists right now and anyone who hasn't heard of his songs, go check it out! 2011 artist to watch! Go watch the video for "Keep Your Head Up", pretty innovative concept if you play the interactive version. Also Rainn Wilson cameos! Hilarious!

So I was so addicted to Andy's music that he bumped all the way to the top of my portrait list. I actually started on him two weeks ago, unfortunately, I got school again, and it's really sucking the life outta me = hence drawings are left untouched. Finally made myself finish him today and I'm really happy I did, like a weight off my shoulders (cos I think about finishing him EVERYDAY).


Reference:
Well, it's always hard to find high resolution pictures to use for reference, especially with someone like Andy, who's new to the scene and doesn't really have much photoshoots floating around. There was one of him from his album shoot, basically one of his most common photos (he uses it for his twitter), but I decided to go with another reference (Don't ask me why, just this vibe? Hah). So I'm pretty happy with my decision, it was definitely a challenge trying to complete this portrait.


Face:
It was okay doing his face, though the paper I used seemed a little more rough than usual (aka: harder to blend), so I had to constantly blend and smooth things out with the tissue. Fairly easy to get his facial details right, when I sketched him out, he looked great already.

Hair:
Andy's hair...!! Well, it's pretty obvious it was a nightmare to do. To be honest, I kinda liked the fact that most of his hair at the back was extremely light due to the sunlight. I thought it was a nice challenge, also a nice effect/look for the portrait. It was definitely one of the things that intimidated me... hence I took so long on the portrait... I was afraid to start on the hair. Finally made myself do it, and it was actually okay!

Background:
Usually I have a system with my drawings, I would do something first, then move on, and it was the same with every portrait. With Andy, I actually had to do the background earlier (I usually do it last), due to his hair. I needed the background in order to complete the highlights portion of his hair. It's a simple background, however, I had somewhat of a difficulty getting it to look as it is, due to the paper (Rougher for some reason... it's the same brand as always, I just used a new pad). Trust me, this pad is not gonna be used for portraits ANYMORE.

Stubble:
Yet another nightmare to do. It was all extremely short, and mostly consisted of dots. Pointillism yet again!


So there you have it.. Andy Grammer! Currently addicted to "Miss Me". I hope it's his second single.


Used:
2H to 8B graphite pencils
Eraser, Clic Eraser
Tortillions
Tissues
A4 Cartridge Pad