Portrait of Young Michael Caine

I remember watching Michael Caine movies when I was very young. It may be that these souvenirs of youth made me want to draw a portrait of this well-known actor. Or may be I was charmed with the fact that Michael Caine will be 80 years old in 2013 and he still looks good and active.

Young Michael Caine wearing his signature hipster glasses

He still acts in many films. Michael Caine’s face looks rather attractive from artist’s perspective. Although he was born in a poor family, he has that peculiar British nobility in his appearance. Michael has a beautiful family and despite his solid age he even mastered Twitter. This active gentleman seems to have that irresistible aura that has inspired me to draw his portrait. So I found a picture of young Michael Caine that had been taken a year before my birthday and I used it as a reference for the portrait. Furthermore, this picture shows Michael wearing his famous hipster glasses; therefore I wanted to include this cool accessory into the portrait. I also learned from the Internet that one of Michael Caine’s favorite songs was “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. That’s why I decided that this great piece of music should be the soundtrack for my video showing the portrait creation process. I believe this song indeed perfectly fits a mature man who lived a long life of success. I hope Michael Caine himself will find this portrait and share his thoughts about it in the comment section below (well, I know it sounds almost impossible, but it doesn't hurt to dream).

Watch this video on Youtube

P.S. many people ask me what kind of pen I use for my artworks. For this portrait of Michael Caine I utilized one of my most appreciated drawing tools – a Pilot Birdie fountain pen.

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Happy Birthday, Steven Spielberg!

Today is the birthday of Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest film directors who ever existed. He is one of legendary film directors and screen writes who made Hollywood a real dream factory which unsurpassed creations never stop to excite generations of movie fans from all over the world. I just couldn’t help but draw a portrait of this genius to pay tribute to his talent and accomplishments which let our imagination take flight to the world of dreams and exiting impressions. Happy Birthday, Steven!

Steven Allan Spielberg

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Portrait of John Wayne

John Wayne was not only an icon symbolizing American values and ideals he was also an actor whose characters in their majority exemplified the universal image of a rugged gentleman whose courage, appearance and actions set standards of masculinity. When Buffalo & Company organized a poll on their Facebook page in which their customers were asked to share their thoughts about what men should be honored for personifying classic values of manhood, it was not surprising that quite a few people voted for John Wayne. As a result I was commissioned to draw a portrait of John Wayne.

John Wayne aka Duke

There are some interesting facts about John Wayne which are especially curious to me as I was born in USSR. According to Wikipedia Joseph Stalin was a fan of John Wayne's movies, although Stalin had ordered to assassinate the actor as John Wayne was an ardent anti-communist with an incredible popularity in the USA. Stalin died before his order could be carried out and his successor personally rescinded the order. Another interesting fact is that there were not many Western movies made in the USA which penetrated the Iron Curtain and were shown in Soviet Union cinemas. However one of Wayne’s movies called “Stagecoach” ran in Soviet cinemas. In USSR the film was shown under the title “The Journey will be Dangerous”. It means that values and ideas depicted in John Wayne’s movies are rather universal and comprehensible not only by Americans.

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I can only imagine how extremely popular John Wayne was (and still is) in the USA. But there is a fact which tells me a lot about the actor’s popularity. It is a rare thing when a public location is named after an actor. However there are several public places named after John Wayne in the United States among which I can mention John Wayne Airport (Orange County, California) and John Wayne Elementary School (Brooklyn, New York). There is also John Wayne Cancer Institute founded by actor’s son to find the cure for the disease which had taken the movie star away from millions of his fans. Thus the name of John Wayne lives on to keep the memory of the great actor in a special place in American people’s hearts for many generations to come.

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Portrait of Hank Williams, Jr.

Hank Williams, Jr. portrait is the second artwork created for Buffalo & Company’s American Music Legend T-shirt Series.

Hank Williams, Jr. aka Bocephus

I have already told in my blog post dedicated to the portrait of Johnny Cash that country music is probably one of only a few music styles which absorbed the wisdom and philosophy of many generations of American men. Those men had actually built the country which became the home for the world’s most powerful nation for a relatively short period of time. I believe such a stunning success of the American nation was possible because, from its very cradle, the country was ruled by men who appreciated the basic values of manhood passed from generation to generation, including courage and intelligence. But rulers are not the only ones who build a nation as it is impossible to do it without average men and women whose hands and brains play a great role in the prosperity of every country. These average Joes and Janes preserved their experience, both positive and negative, in the form of music. Country music is probably the closest to the hearts of those US people who still honor courage, thirst for adventure and other real men’s values in times when such values are often forgotten.

Watch this video on Youtube

Buffalo & Company has built their brand on honoring classic masculine values through men’s apparel they produce. No wonder they pay special attention to legendary country singers as Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Jr. whose appearance and art express the old spirit of a real man. Unfortunately, being a celebrity, Hank Williams Jr. is not easy to reach in order to get his permission to use his portrait on t-shirts. May be one day Mr. Williams will read this post and watch the video showing how his portrait was created and he might want to contact Buffalo & Company to discuss conditions on which he could allow selling t-shirts featuring his face. I believe he would be pleased to be honored by Buffalo & Company and their customers alongside with the great Johnny Cash, American presidents and other famous men. If one day Buffalo & Company gets his permission I’ll update this post with a picture of a Hank Williams, Jr. t-shirt.

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