Know thy subject

Remember dressing up as your favourite cartoon character as a kid? Can you recall the conviction with which you wore Batman’s cape (in my case, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shell), transcending your own reality as you traversed haphazardly into another’s? Well, drawing for me is kind of the grown-up version of that. Be it a simple caricature or a portrait, delving into the world of my subject not only indulges my obsessive nature but also enables me to absorb the finer details of a person’s personality, attitude, expression, mannerisms and habits which might have otherwise evaded my capture.

In other words, I do my homework.

So, what’s the first port of call when embarking on a new project? The most obvious place to go in search of a little insight, once the visual reference material is in order, is music. This is easy, of course, if your chosen subject happens to be a musician, but even most movies have soundtracks. Best of all, it can be experienced in the background while putting pen to paper; it’s not uncommon that I will have a record on loop for the entire duration of any given work, such is the extent of my extreme personality. In today’s age of piracy ethical streaming services, it’s easily accessible and, in many cases, completely free.

I tend to go a step further still and cap off a long day of work with music videos, concert footage and interviews in bed - keeping my eye on the prize as I endeavour to switch off the left-side of my brain. A biography or relevant book will invariably find its way onto my coffee table at some point during the process and, as a rabid collector of memorabilia, I will go as far as hoisting boxes out of storage to hold merchandise, stage-worn clothing or a smashed keyboard - anything tangible - in my hands. What’s that, you say - they dabbled in wine-making, too? There really is no stone left unturned; no sense left unassailed.

Reference: the iconic photoshoot by Jesse Frohman from the book, The Last Session.

Occupying an all-encompassing fantasy world for weeks on end and allowing it to permeate just about every facet of your life is convenient if you’re already a fan. But what if you’re not overly keen on the subject of your focus? There are exceptions to everything and I can’t condone listening to presidential speeches, for example, or hitting the tanning booth should you ever happen to find yourself depicting Donald Trump. Acquiring designer sunglasses just to see how the light bends around its shape is a little excessive, even for me, but if you already have them then why not?

Product placement: some of the research materials enlisted in Kurt’s resurrection.

But does this clinical approach bypass the pure expression of art? As with anything, what works for one will not necessarily benefit everybody but in my experience, embracing this method has only served to enrich the end result and energise me in the process. What’s more, I enjoy it; so why wouldn’t I? It all speaks to creating what you would like to see.

Draw what you love: when you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it’s reflected in the quality of the work.