Being a big fan of many of the early female jazz singers, I thought it would be fun to do an illustration of Billie Holiday. I tried to keep things simple and graphic, yet still capture the feeling of what it must have been like to see her perform in a small smoky club in the 30's and 40's.
56 comments:
Hi Michael!
Beautiful,great work my friend!
Nice emotion and you really set the mood with the color palette!
Ah yes "Lady Day" and perhaps a little background music by Louis Armstrong!
Wonderful! Great graphic appeal.
Ciao
Paolo
Mission accomplished Michael.
Lovely colours and details. You've captured the mood because it's not hard for me to imagine the sound of her voice...and oh what a voice!
Wonderful! I'm a fan of jazz too! Saludos
I'd like to know more about this; there's a tissue paper collage feeling to it. I presume it's digital?
I like the story of Billie's TKO of two sailors who put their cigarettes out on her fur coat at a club.
wow. i can hear the music. so inviting and full of atmosphere.
lovely...
You stuff dealing with musical themes are some of my faves...They are very moody, evocative and lyrical (pun unintended)!
This is just so very beautiful it's crazy! What a lovely tribute to a great entertainer.
Have a great weekend!
Oh Gosh this is soooooooo fabulous! It's crazy as Cheryl puts it! It really is. I love the mood and feeling of this piece. I am both a jazz singer and play keys as well and I would love to have this as a piece of inspiration. You have out done yourself with this one Michael. I bow before your greatness! Hats off to you.
Hugs
V
Great face, great colours, nice style!
wonderful!
everything is rocknig in this ..the hands & the expression are perfect!
Hey, how long! Most always accompany you ...
Always sending very well ... This is it.
Perfect.
Hug.
Hey DSM- this piece is a combo of digital, paint and collage. I used an abstract acrylic and collage piece I had done previously, photographed it and combined it with the Billie image that was done digitally. I played with the color, saturation and opacity till I achieved the look I was going for.
Thanks for your comments everyone-I'm definitely going to do some more sticking with the music theme.
Lovely work, would be great as a print.
beautiful face and expression! great work!:-D
Michael, Great subtleties of color and texture. The emotion is also well captured. Great piece!
Beautiful work! I can hear her sing :)
Hey Michael! So cool! Great mood piece and love the collage and graphic combo! Great tribute to a great entertainer. Nice work my friend... you ROCK!
She's great! My wife and I listen to her music all the time.
This is beautiful and emotive. I love the transparent layers.
OMG!!! I love her! :D
This looks sooooo cool! :)
Love it Michael, really amazing work with this one man!
Cheers from Lisbon!
Great as usual, Mike!
LOVE IT. Great work, Michael! :D
this makes me want to stop everything, open the sketchbook and turn on the complete decca recordings. beautiful interpretation of lady day, michael!
love it! great style!!
Beautiful works !
very inspiring :)
Thanks :)
Beautifull eaxpression, particularly with the hands, you can almost hear her sing.
Michael, nice to look at this again. I really do like the collage; thanks for the tech-tip. That Billie story was gleaned from the Ken Burn's series JAZZ which ran on PBS... a great dvd set. Come paint in Key West!
very very cool blog!!!!! saludos!
HUGE LOVE for this!
..you are creating the mood michael..great colors and textures..lovely graphic style..
Wow! This is so beautiful, Michael! Love the colors and textural detail.
I love this Michael! I love the composition and the limited color palette, not to mention the wonderful graphic shapes.
beautiful painting!!
It´s full of emotion.
Wonderful, Michael! You can FEEL her musical passion..love it! It has that special "I was so lucky to be there" kind of club feel. She's amazing..
looks like she sooo involved in singing:)
super!!
This is great! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the hands!
It´s full of emotion.
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i love this illustration... very good!!!
ned
http://www.unmondomigliore.net/
Oh man, you got it! It's full of the atmosphere that I always thought these clubs probably had... And only with the image of the singer!
Thank you michael!
You are great to!
:)
Belas cores!!
abraço,
mauro
Michael, great Billie! Plzzzzzz, do Gal Costa or Maria Bethania next.
Great singer woman...
Best wishes from Buenos Aires...
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Fantastic!! You really captured Billie. Love your style!
This is fabulous! Great job on positioning her fingers, and I love her expression too!
Absolutely beautiful!
so beautiful
Love it! Your retro themes are especially great. A poster of this would work quite nicely in my house :)
Simply great! This illustration reminds Gauguin.
oh! billie holidaY! I like this picture and your style!
nice!
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