First off, let's post few photos of the painting:
Now here are the technical portions!
Size: 30inx30in (or 2 1/2feet by 2 1/2feet)
Media: Acrylic on Canvas
Time: 3-4 days (about 3 to 4 hours per day. I did have to sleep and go to my job as a cashier at Wendys, where I spend the majority of my time when I'm not at school)
Source Photo:
I took the original photo (which I found on Google of course), converted it to black and white and then... well I painted. I didn't have as much paint as I was expecting, and the tubes of color I did have were running low so I was hoping I would have enough of. I improvised in a few places but that's okay. I'm an artist and artists improvise, change, and take artistic license with things. We learn the rules, and then break them. It's totally cool :) And I won't lie, I can usually knock out a decent sized portrait in about 3-4 hours in one sitting (as long as I don't get distracted/interrupted). But of course, I'm an adult with a job and school and stuff to do. I was lucky I was about to spend around 4 hours a day over the course of 3-4 days and got this painting done. I have never done anything this large before.
The background, his hair and his jacket are more... stroke-oriented than his face is. My backgrounds are always pretty stroke-oriented, more abstracty than anything. I like doing those. It's also green, which is his favorite color (and subsequently mine as well!). Jacket is black and white because, again, artistic license and such (the color in the original photo is red but I like the black and white in my painting xD).
Originally, I was filming myself painting and was going to make a youtube video out of the clips (and I have all the clips I did end up filming). But part way through I was getting really frustrated and stopped filming. I think that helped me get through the rest of the painting. Because once I stopped filming, I was able to fix the issues I was having (for the most part), and was a bit more relaxed through the process.
Backstory and Thoughts:
(WARNING! Some of this is really rambly and not stuff I usually share with the world. Sorry in advance)
SO! A little about my back story. Once upon a time, about 7 years ago now, I was nothing more than a very lonely, sad young Sierra. Tired of being picked on for being weird and different, feeling lonely all the time, had very few (if any) real friends. Displayed all the signs of being depressed at 13 years old. Spent a lot of time in the darkness of my bedroom, alone, staring at my ceiling because I had no interest in anything. Trying to figure out what was wrong with me.
Then I found youtube on the internet one day. And it was glorious! Spent a lot of time looking up clips from my favorite musicals, CATS, RENT, Sweeney Todd, Phantom of the Opera, and Grease. Then, just before I went into High School, I found the other side of youtube. The Vloggers, the YouTube singers, the parody channels, the skits. I found it and it was as if my entire life had changed because I found this channel. I noticed that I was happiest when I was painting/drawing and watching these really awesome people on YouTube.
I found quite a few people that I felt connected to and inspired by that year (Corey Vidal of Apprentice A, Charles Trippy of CTFxC, ShayCarl and the Shaytards, DaveDays, Sam Tsui, iJustine and so many more). But one of the people that I found on YouTube that stood out a lot to me was this guy named Nick Pitera. And if you've never heard of him.... well you're missing out. He has this really amazing thing... he has a low register and a high register. Meaning: He can sing and sound like a girl AND a dude (and he is a dude, if you haven't figured that out yet). It's crazy what he can do with his voice. It's just... amazing. I kind of wish I could even sing because let me tell you... I'd kill to do the things he can do with his voice when he sings (and I'm a girl so... let's just leave it at I wish I could sing as well as he can).
I watched all of his videos, have seen every single one at least once and most of them multiple times. And as the years went one, I always had somehow found my way to his videos at varying points, seemingly when I needed to be inspired by them.
I was in and out of a very serious relationship for all of my high school year, and for about two years after I graduated with someone who continuously hurt me and used me. I fell in and out of depression, dealing with my relationship (which was and still is, one of my biggest secrets to date), still sort of being picked on DESPITE me becoming very reclusive and not really interacting with people. Again, I was literally at my happiest when I was alone in a room, painting and watching youtube videos. Whether it'd be vlogs or youtube musicians or skits or parodies or whatever, I was watching youtube like people would watch tv.
So what does this have to do with Nick Pitera you may ask? How does he relate to all this? Well it's like this: He launched his Patreon page a little over a month ago (I'm pretty sure it's been more than a month. Time blends together during the summer xD), and I decided to become one of his Patreon supporters. Because of the amount of money I decided to pledge for each video that he makes, he followed me on Twitter.
NOW let me make this VERY CLEAR right here and now: I DID NOT pledge the amount that I did just so I could get followed by him on twitter. He is very very talented and I believe in him as a singer. I believe in him as an artist and if there's one thing I like doing that's not related to me painting or drawing or to tattoos, it's helping and supporting other artists, even in areas where I have no business in because they're not my areas of art. I pledge because Nick is talented and I wanted to help him make some of the best videos that he can make (and trust me, even the videos where it's him just singing into a mic in his backyard or in his house are pretty amazing).
Anyways (now that that's out of the way)... I've been very lucky to interact with him as much as I have since I started supporting him on Patreon. I knew he was a really nice guy with a lot of talent (and good looks too but that isn't the point of this post) but man.... he's proven just how sweet and nice he is time and time and time again. It blows me away.
So two weeks ago, I did a color pencil drawing of him. It's good, actually a pretty good colored pencil for me (and I suck at colored pencil). Here it is actually:
(now I'm not too happy with how the photograph of the drawing came out but let me assure you, it's 100% better in real life than the photo is showing now!).
After doing this, I did a self portrait, and then decided: I need to do a painting. And around the time I decided to do another painting, his cover of Sam Smith's Stay With Me came out. And it was brilliant. It's beautiful and full of emotion and I was floored by it. Decided then and there to do another painting of him.
This painting I did, it wasn't about my technical skill. It wasn't to prove that I could still paint and do it well and actually create something that looks almost exactly (or exactly) like the subject I'm painting. It was about me being moved by something someone I supported and appreciate and am inspired by and trying to show my appreciation through my art, through a painting. It was about me saying thank you for being such an inspiration and for being one of the main reasons why I feel happy, even when I feel like I shouldn't be happy. Nick is a very wonderful human being and every time I watch his videos, I feel so inspired by them, and happy because there is someone who can do what he do and love it. He's the kind of person I aspire to be like, because let me tell you this: from my experience there is sometimes little kindness directed towards those whom may be odd, different, nerdy, whatever you want to define it as. But, there are people out there, like Nick, who are popular on the internet, people who have thousands of fans around the world, and still are very kind and sweet to their fans, who actually take the time to personally interact with people. That's what I want.
I'm not saying I want to be famous on YouTube or out in the 'real world' (as if youtube wasn't real xD Because it is and I don't care who says otherwise, at this point I'd rather meet youtube celebrities than the 'real' ones xD) or being a known artist around the world. I'm saying that I want to inspire people around me and help them and show them a little bit of kindness like Nick has. Because believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who don't show kindness to others. And maybe just maybe, if I can show someone half the amount of kindness and sweetness that Nick has shown me and his other fans, and maybe inspire someone half as much as Nick has inspired me, then my life would be pretty darn complete.
So a little message to Nick now: Thank you. Thank you for being as sweet and kind as you are. Thank you for sharing your crazy amazing ability to sing on YouTube. Thank you for being you and for inspiring me, and others. I can't tell you how much it means to me. So I hope you enjoy the painting because that's how I know how to express my thanks sometimes, just through a painting xD and I know I'm weird, really excitable and sometimes a bit overbearing and I'm sorry for that. But you're awesome and I'm pretty proud of call you my lovely Internet friend (even though you're pretty popular on youtube and I am a fan of your work). I hope you like the painting!
