Portrait of Adam Smith

Portrait of Adam Smith belongs to the serious of famous men portraits created by me for Buffalo and Company.

Adam Smith (social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy)

Have you ever wondered why the USA remains one of the most economically developed countries in the world? My strong belief is that the reason for a wonderful economical success of the United States was the wisdom of country’s first leaders who were greatly inspired by freedom and who had chosen and adapted economical theories which guaranteed freedom and equality of rights of each American citizen as much as it was possible within the bounds of the active legislation. Therefore it was not surprising that American intellectual leaders noticed and got interested in Adam Smith’s economic theory laid out in his “Wealth of Nations” in which he outlined the ideas of the so-called “laissez faire” philosophy. The phrase laissez faire is French and means "let do", i.e., when applied to Smith’s views, it is of paramount importance for the government not to seek to interfere in people’s economical activity unless it is an illegal business. It is now proved by the history that providing as much freedom for business as possible results in positive economical development of the country due to a sound competition and fair legislation.

Watch this video on Youtube

I do not want to say that Adam Smith’s economic theories are perfect as there is nothing perfect in this world. However one cannot deny that the ideas of Adam Smith laid the foundation of today’s economical success of the United States of America. No wonder that Buffalo and Company chose Adam Smith as one of the greatest men who they and their customers would honor by wearing t-shirts featuring my portrait of this famous economist.

Read more...

Custom Vector Illustrations for a Chiropractor

I have recently created a series of custom vector illustrations for a chiropractor from Paris named Fabien. He commissioned me to make 8 illustrations in a peculiar style which looks like old school comics style advertisements. Fabien wanted to print out a big poster incorporating illustrations which would represent real life situations when people are suffering from pain caused by certain pathologies, harmful conditions or injuries which can be effectively treated by an experienced chiropractor like Fabien C-Storz. So if you urgently need help of a manual therapist while in Paris, make sure you contact Fabien for a quick relief or a comprehensive treatment (you can visit his website at www.myosteopathe.com). Meanwhile, let me show you the illustrations I created for him:

Custom Illustrations for a Poster at the Manual Therapist's Room

Sprain

Read more...

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.

Watch this video on Youtube

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.

Read more...

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.

Related posts:
Johnny Cash Portrait

Read more...