Portrait of Walt Whitman

   Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.

    This drawing was created for Sticky Leaves which is a new company based in the USA that's dedicated to helping people show off life passions and positive world views on high-quality, artistic t-shirts sold at a reasonable price. They're starting things off on Teespring and hope to expand to having their online store set up soon. This Walt Whitman design can be purchased on their latest shirt, which is available here: http://teespring.com/waltwhitman

Watch me creating this art on YouTube:

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Astronaut Reading a Book

The drawing of an astronaut reading a book was my first commission from Skip N' Whistle – a company offering eco-friendly screen printed t-shirts in New Orleans, USA. The company is known for its great selection of fun and clever t-shirt designs.

I was asked to draw a spaceman sitting down with his legs crossed and reading a book

One of the reasons why I was contacted by a representative of this company was that guys from Skip N' Whistle were not quite happy with hard edge vector clipart that so many people used to translate their design ideas into drawings. And I cannot but agree that freehand drawings have so much more soul and life than those made with Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator or any other computer-based graphic editor. There is nothing better than a hand-made work totally created by human mind and hands. Hopefully, customers of Skip N' Whistle will appreciate future hand-made designs of their t-shirts. I believe there will be plenty of popular Skip N' Whistle designs re-made into freehand drawings by me and/or other artists because it seems that managers of the company are ready to go for it.

Watch this video on Youtube

Another reason I was hired to create the drawing for a t-shirt from Skip N' Whistle was my distinctive drawing style of hatching and cross-hatching making my artworks look somewhat vintage. Skip N' Whistle’s t-shirts and accessories feature a lot of vintage-inspired designs and guys from the company believed that it would be cool to make custom designs while keeping that so popular vintage vibe.

AD ZONE: Read books, watch videos, have fun

Unfortunately, I do not know the exact meaning of this drawing of a reading spaceman but the design looks fun which means that Skip N' Whistle is likely to find a lot of buyers for t-shirts featuring an astronaut with a book.

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Robert E. Lee on His Horse

I keep on telling you about artworks commissioned by Buffalo Jackson Trading Co. (ex Buffalo and Company). And today’s artwork features General Robert E. Lee – a commander of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America. This is second time that I create a drawing featuring Robert E. Lee for this company but this time the drawing depicts Robert E. Lee on his horse called Traveller. The drawing is based on a well-known photo taken during the American Civil War.

General Robert E. Lee on his horse Traveller

This drawing is based on the famous photo of Lee and his horse

I believe that the idea to add the Lee’s horse design to the collection of t-shirts from Buffalo Jackson Trading Co. was prompted to guys from the company by the General’s letter to his wife’s cousin, Markie Williams, who wanted to paint a portrait of Traveller. The letter went like this:

If I was an artist like you, I would draw a true picture of Traveller; representing his fine proportions, muscular figure, deep chest, short back, strong haunches, flat legs, small head, broad forehead, delicate ears, quick eye, small feet, and black mane and tail. Such a picture would inspire a poet, whose genius could then depict his worth, and describe his endurance of toil, hunger, thirst, heat and cold; and the dangers and suffering through which he has passed. He could dilate upon his sagacity and affection, and his invariable response to every wish of his rider. He might even imagine his thoughts through the long night-marches and days of the battle through which he has passed. But I am no artist Markie, and can therefore only say he is a Confederate gray.

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Roosevelt and His Rough Riders

I’ve been recently involved in a number of projects for Buffalo and Company. I am going to show you the results of my work in this and a few next posts. Today I want to show a stylized image of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders based on the famous photograph of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry regiment, also known as the Rough Riders, made by photographer William Dinwiddie.

The reference picture of Roosevelt's Rough Riders

The drawing was to be placed on pocket t-shirts produced by Buffalo & Company to honor brave men and express company’s concern over today’s extensive feminization of men’s fashion. Drawing all soldiers on the reference picture too thoroughly would be time consuming and expensive but I thought that using my signature drawing technique (cross-hatching) could result in a somewhat sketchy but rather cool looking image of Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. This stylized image, I believe, is perfect for a tee.

Roosevelt and his Rough Riders (drawing by Igor Lukyanov)

And again I learned an interesting story from the United States history. It’s kinda cool how the Rough Riders regiment had been gathered. It had been formed of volunteers who were cowboys, American Indians, college athletes, ranchers, gold or mining prospectors, hunters, gamblers, former military men etc. Only the strongest and the most capable men had been selected to join the regiment. This story reminds me of Hollywood movies about selecting the most talented, capable and brave soldiers to accomplish the most impossible military missions.

Roosevelt's Rough Riders t-shirt by Buffalo and Company

I think that the image of Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders is the perfect choice to use as a symbol of genuine masculinity reflected in character, deeds and fashion.

Watch this video on Youtube

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General Stonewall Jackson Portrait

I keep on working closely with Buffalo and Company to create custom portraits for their Heritage t-shirt series. It is fun to draw portraits of famous people and learn more about the history of the Unites States of America at the same time. One of the latest portraits drawn by me for Buffalo and Company was the portrait of an American Civil War general Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.

Portrait of Stonewall Jackson

Portrait of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson

Stonewall Jackson is probably a very controversial personality in the eyes of many Americans as he was one of confederate commanders along with General Robert E. Lee whose portrait I have already drawn for Buffalo and Company. But what really amazes me about the United States is that there were enough wise people to organize the Lost Cause movement purposed to reconcile and unite societies of the American South and North. As a result Americans can freely honor soldiers and leaders of both belligerents today. And this is not what can be often seen in countries where civil wars occurred.

Watch this video on Youtube

Stonewall Jackson T-Shirt

Stonewall Jackson t-shirt by Buffalo and Company

Related posts:
My second portrait of General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee and his horse

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Portrait of Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill is another person who “qualifies” to be among those whose portraits Buffalo and Company has chosen for its "famous men t-shirts series".

Churchill is respected by both American and British people because he led the United Kingdom through the bitter years of the most bloody and awful war which ever occurred. Being the Prime Minister of one of the most powerful European countries - a country that had an advantageous geographical position in regard to military strategy - Churchill was one of only a few statesmen who could make a contribution to the victory against a powerful enemy. He was the one whose actions and decisions could change the destiny of the whole Europe and even the United States. I can only imagine how difficult it is to rule a country during times of war when millions of lives depend on you while any of your decisions can make you a complete loser or a hero in the eyes of future generations. Although there are quite a few people who criticize Winston Churchill for various reasons, what I personally think, being a person born in the former USSR, is that Sir Winston Churchill is worth being respected for his ability to keep his country powerful enough during the war to be able to keep a great part of Europe away from non-democratic regimes after the war. This fact alone makes him a great, brave and wise man who is worth being honored in my opinion.

Portrait of Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

Watch this video on Youtube

Related posts:
Harry S. Truman portrait
Portrait of Ronald Reagan
Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt

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Portrait of Ronald Reagan

I have been recently commissioned to continue creating drawings for the series of famous men t-shirts by Buffalo and Company. This time it’s a portrait of Ronal Reagan – the 40th president of the United States.

If you follow my blog for comparatively long time you might know that Buffalo and Company sells clothing for real man who love traveling and hunting. Buffalo and Company pays tribute to good old masculinity and classic men’s values opposing its fashion to today’s popular tendencies of shifting from a rugged style of brave men hunters and warriors who love adventures to unmanly metrosexual styles of men's apparel.

It’s kinda funny that, being born in USSR, today I draw a portrait of Ronald Reagan – a person who was a big part in working hard to dissolve Soviet Union. Moreover, I draw the picture of Reagan for Americans who honor his deeds in fighting against communism. However, I am not mad at him, because I love living in independent Ukraine now. The concept of communism is too good to be true. USSR stood on the foundation which could not keep nations together for a long time. I am glad we are not hidden under the “Iron Curtain” from the rest of the world today. We still have some residue USSR problems but I hope that future generations of Ukrainians will manage to overcome them.

Portrait of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Watch this video on Youtube

Related posts:
George Washington portrait
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson
Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt
Portrait of Winston Churchill
Portrait of George W. Bush

John F. Kennedy Portrait

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Drawing for the US Catfish Association

My recent post about hunting and fishing drawings has not passed unnoticed as shortly after I had made this post I was contacted by a guy named Paul who belonged to the Brotherhood of Catfishermen. He wanted me to create a custom drawing of catfish for the United States Catfish Association (USCA). The drawing would be used on t-shirts that would be screen printed. It was supposed to be a life-like catfish scene artwork showcasing three species of North American catfish: a blue catfish, a channel catfish and a flathead catfish.

Catfish drawing was created for the United States Catfish Association (their logo is above)

Below I want to show you the final result and the drawing progress video. By the way, the drawing was made with Pentel brush pen.

Catfish drawing

American catfish: blue catfish, channel catfish and flathead catfish

Catfish t-shirt design for USCA

Watch this video on Youtube

USCA is planning to come out with the new catfish t-shirt on January 1, 2011. I wish them good luck and tight lines!

This is how the first catfish t-shirt with my drawing looks like

Related posts:
Hunting and fishing drawings
American wildlife illustrations

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Hunting and Fishing Drawings

Shortly after I had finished the wildlife illustrations project for Buffalo and Company (if you follow my blog you might remember those drawings of an American buffalo, an elk, a bass, a trout and mallards I had created for Buffalo and Company. If you do not know what I am talking about, please, check out the related links below this post) I was approached by a guy from the USA, who had hunting and fishing business, about possibility to make some drawings for him. The guy was impressed by my wildlife illustrations and wanted something in the same style to create unique designs for his promotional products like t-shirts etc. He had plenty of interesting ideas and I really loved working for him.

I want to show you a few drawings I created for his hunting and fishing company which he was about to bring online. The company is called “The Daily Hush” (coined from “the daily hunt and fish”). You are welcome to visit their website dedicated to hunting and fishing. I do believe that sooner or later the site with an online shop, where you will be able to purchase various hunting and fishing products and accessories as well as t-shirts and other stuff with my drawings and designs exclusively created for "The Daily Hush", will become very popular among fishing and hunting lovers.

Fishing Hooks Logo

Fishing lure flies logo

Fish Circle Design

Trout forming a circle (black and white version) 

Trout forming a circle (color version) 

Cervine Skulls and Bones Design

Skulls with antlers and bones of a moose, an elk, a mule deer and a white tail deer

Wildlife Sketches

Elk sketch

Trout sketch

Wild goose

Related posts:
American Wildlife Illustrations
Catfish drawing

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New American Wildlife Illustrations

After a relatively short period of time since I had made wildlife illustrations for American Wildlife t-shirts by Buffalo and Company (today the company is called Buffalo Jackson Trading Co. ), the guys from Buffalo & Co. got back to me to offer another wildlife illustrations project to expand the series of “Honor Your Wild” t-shirts. I guess the first promotional campaign was a success for Buffalo & Company and people loved their t-shirts for which I had had honor to draw beautiful animals of North America.

This time I was asked to draw male and female turkeys as well as male and female white-tailed deer (aka whitetails). The guys from Buffalo & Company loved my cross-hatching drawing technique, therefore I traditionally used this technique for the new illustrations to match the style which had become a feature of the t-shirts recently released by Buffalo & Company.

I want to show you low resolution copies of wildlife illustrations created for Buffalo and Company as well as videos which I traditionally shoot for those who may be interested in mastering cross-hatching technique or simply like watching an artist drawing.

Turkeys Illustration

Male and female turkeys

Buffalo and Company's turkey t-shirt

Watch this video on Youtube

White-Tailed Deer Illustrations

Whitetail buck

Watch this video on Youtube

Whitetail doe

Watch this video on Youtube

I have always been impressed by how many creative ideas the management of Buffalo and Company has and how enthusiastic and energetic their team is. Being their best go to artist (as they call me), I was asked to help in implementing another their original idea of creating a unique series of American wildlife bow ties. For this purpose I was supposed to turn all wildlife illustrations previously created by me for Buffalo and Company into simplified black and white images, a kind of stencil pictures of animals (a bison, an elk, a brss, a trout, mallards, a male turkey and a male whitetail). And I did so, coz I am always happy to assist in my old clients’ projects and to help to bring their ideas to life. And here is what I came up with black and white American wildlife pics.

Stencil Wildlife Illustrations for Bow Ties

Products with my wildlife illustrations are available at Buffalo & Company on-line store.

Related posts:
My other wildlife illustrations for Buffalo and Company
Hunting and fishing drawings
Bison drawing
Lion drawing

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Famous Men Portraits: Robert E. Lee

Today’s post is about my new artist commission from Buffalo and Company. This time I was hired to make portraits of famous men for a new series of t-shirts by Buffalo and Company. General Robert E. Lee is one of the men whose portraits I am supposed to draw. So, I’ll start with General Lee, and the others are coming soon in my next blog posts (please, check out corresponding links in the end of this port). Robert E. Lee was a US Civil War general who, despite being commanding the Confederate army (the South) and having surrendered and eventually lost the war, is respected all across the United States for his courage, intelligence and outstanding strategic mind which had made him one of the most honored American generals. Robert E. Lee had enough wisdom to make his contribution to settling up the conflict between North and South of the United States. General Robert E. Lee can be undoubtedly considered to be an icon for those who respect and honor the real man’s heart and soul.

Buffalo and Company has developed a philosophy of preserving and honoring a good old masculinity in men’s clothing and accessories they are manufacturing and selling. They do not forget those times when men were real men whose purpose of life was meeting challenges of nature while traveling and conquering new wild spaces on the Earth to expend civilization and to create better living for human beings; hunting and protecting their families and Motherland. Their clothing itself reflected their virility and readiness for adventures and brave deeds. The apparel they wore used to be comfortable, practical and had that look and feel associated with manhood. Today’s men’s fashion is somehow shifting away from the classic man’s appearance and lacks that peculiar manly spirit. One can often observe those men wearing clothing and haircuts which deprive them of the very look of a male, let alone a brave and ready-for-adventure look. This is not a good tendency as history teaches us that only courageous, smart, wise, purposeful and caring men led nations towards the progress regardless any obstacles, and difficult circumstances. And those guys, as we can see, were proud of being men and did their best to make their appearance correspond to that look which distinguished a strong male protector from a sweet tender female to be protected. That is why by creating a new series of t-shirts with a famous men portraits, guys from Buffalo and Company want once again remind the faces of those who are worth being followed and honored.

I want to demonstrate you not only the completed portrait of Robert E. Lee but also a video I’ve created to show you the process of drawing this American Civil War general's portrait using the cross-hatching technique. I hope you will enjoy watching the video and would be happy to read your comments about the portrait. I would also very much appreciate if you subscribe to my Youtube channel.

Portrait of General Robert E. Lee

Robert E Lee

Watch this video on Youtube

Robert E. Lee Signature T-Shirt

This is how a Robert E. Lee t-shirt by Buffalo and Company looks like

My other famous men portraits:
Other portrait of Robert E. Lee
General Robert E. Lee and his horse Traveller
General Stonewall Jackson Portrait
Portrait of Ernest Hemingway
Portrait of John Muir
Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt

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My first Illustrator and Artist’s Video Report (Works from November 2009 till January 2010)

It has passed three months since my début as a freelance illustrator and artist. I am still learning how to be a freelance illustrator and work independently. Luckily, I have a friend who supports me and helps me to make my first steps in the freelance career. We together build my on-line presence and develop marketing strategies of finding the best ways to showcase my works and demonstrate artist’s skills in order to find new commissions.

It seems that we are on the right direction so far as I managed to find a few recurrent customers and I have more than five hundred fans on my Facebook page who, I hope, love my illustrations and drawings.

I decided to release monthly video reports covering my illustrations and drawings created within the period of a month. As this is my first video report, it covers my illustrations (including fashion illustrations and sketches), portraits, caricatures, logos etc. made during last three months (November 2009 – January 2010) since the beginning of my independent career of an illustrator and an artist. I show only those works which I am allowed to show. Unfortunately I cannot show some of really good illustrations for the time being.

You may also like:
My second video report
My third video report
My fourth video report

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New Illustrator and Artist Commission: American Wildlife Illustrations

In today’s blog post I want to write about my last illustrator and artist commission to draw wild animals of North America. I was hired by Buffalo and Company, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA to create illustrations for their new American wildlife t-shirt series label. The company specializes in a kind of a patriotic clothes design for hats, shirts, t-shirts, polo shirts etc. So they needed cool wildlife drawings to create classy t-shirts with the wild west feel. They wanted me to draw fish (a bass and a rainbow trout), birds (mallards (wild ducks)) and big animals (a bison and an elk). In this post I will show you the final illustrations as well as a few videos I created specially to show you the process of drawing wild animals beginning from a pencil sketch to the complicated illustrations which have been made using the cross-hatching drawing technique. In the videos I tried to indicate the main milestones of the cross-hatching drawing process which might be interesting for those who want to know more how to draw cross-hatching.

I realize that you may think why a Ukrainian artist should draw north American national wildlife. Well, there are at least three reasons why I was chosen for this commission. The first reason is that the guys from Buffalo and Company seem to love my cross-hatching style after I had drawn them an illustration for their apparel catalog a few months ago. You can see the illustration below. It shows bisons grazing on a wheat field on the background of the mountains.

When I was drawing this illustration I was wondering whether the clients would love this cross-hatching style. And they did, and, furthermore, they got back to me with this new wildlife t-shirts project. The other reason is that the animals I have drawn are not something from the other planet for me as similar animals live in Ukraine too. We have bass, trout, mallards, deer (which are similar to elks), and even European bisons (we call them “zoobr”) also known as aurochs (scientifically Bison bonasus). So I know that some of these beautiful animals are really rare and every country can be proud of having such wonderful representatives of fauna on its territory since healthy and rich nature is a treasure of all nations. And the third reason why I was hired to implement this illustration project is my competitive prices for illustrations as for the time being I am looking for extending my independent, freelance illustrator’s portfolio and I am rather flexible about price issues.

But let’s go to the main topic of the post. I want to show the wildlife illustrations I have created and which, I believe, will help to make cool and classy wildlife t-shirts. The illustrations are accompanied with videos showing the drawing process. I guess that the drawing videos will make this post more interesting for artists and people who love pen and pencil drawing.

Bison and Elk Illustrations and Drawing Videos

Mallards (Wild Ducks) Illustrations and Drawing Videos

Fish (Bass and Trout) Illustrations and Drawing Video

I also created some cool banners for placing on t-shirts. I made a few banner options to choose from or mix and match on a t-shirt somehow. These banners are designed to create that old wild west feel. Here are how the banners look.

I think the guys from Buffalo and Company will take care of the further processing of the banners and the illustrations to perfectly fit them to the company’s t-shirts look and feel. I know that Buffalo and Company has developed its own clothes philosophy which they try to reflect in the apparel they design. This clothing is for those who honor their country, and I wish that every patriot of the USA, who, no doubt, honors America, would want to buy a t-shirt with my American wildlife drawings on it. I wish Buffalo and Company good luck in selling clothes and thanks for hiring me.

Updated on February 27, 2010. I am glad to announce that the first wildlife organic t-shirts with the buffalo drawing have been printed and are available in the Buffalo and Company on-line store.

The release of other wildlife t-shirts is planned for the spring.

P.S. You can also see my other animals drawings and illustrations here:
My other wildlife illustrations for Buffalo and Co.
Bison drawing
Panda bears drawings and illustrations
Hunting and fishing drawings
Animals drawings and illustrations
Man and his dog portrait

Enjoy!

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