Happy Gay Pride Month!

Since I haven't shared anything creative in a long while (or anything for that matter), I thought I would share some Photoshopping with you.  I took this picture on the way home from having lunch with my mom yesterday.  Well, in the photo is pictured an American flag.  In honor of Gay Pride Month, and thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I made a few modifications.  

It was such a gorgeous "blue-sky" day, with very few clouds!

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Gay Pride

“Gay Pride” is another hybrid creation that was started back in the mid 1990’s.  Like all the other works I created then, “Gay Pride” was painted using fine Sable hair brushes and India ink.  I did complete this piece in full color using gouache, but in order to update the work for the blog, I re-colored it using Photoshop.  I stayed true to the original gouache coloring, but using all the Photoshop bells and whistles is certainly a lot more fun than using paints and brushes.  Sorry traditionalists, I still love to sketch and draw using pencil and paper, but applying flat color to my graphic works is easier, faster and more fun using digital means.

While my model did not pose nude for me, that didn’t mean I couldn’t make him naked in my mind.  I did ask him to poses in certain ways knowing I was going to make it a nude illustration.  He was aware of my intentions, he just didn’t want naked pics of him floating around.  And I don’t blame him.  I wouldn’t want naked photos of me out there…even if I looked as good as him! 

Vested

“Vested” is also a hybrid design.  All the black line work was completed in the mid 1990’s using India ink and a fine triple zero Sable hair paint brush.  The black and white artwork was scanned and the color was added recently using Adobe Photoshop.  Not all the artwork generated from that session with the model was taken past the black line work stage.  As I said, “Vested” was black and white until recently, but I always knew I wanted the vest to resemble the American flag with rainbow stripes.  I actually like the creativity behind the modification of the American flag into becoming the gay American flag.  It’s creative and I guess this is my homage to the person who originally came up with that idea. 

The next several artwork posts will be the results of my photographs from the session with the model.  All the photos came out great; however, all the poses were not that good.  The model did a great job and so did the camera.  And at the time of the photo session, the poses seemed “cool” and “very interesting”.  Well, they were a little too interesting; as I felt I could only use a handful of the photos. 

Gay Pride T-Shirts

In 1992 I designed and sold T-shirts celebrating gay pride.  These 4 designs were screen printed on shirts and sold in stores from Boston to Washington, D.C.  To think that my designs would be purchased by gay men and women was an incredible thrill for me.  In addition to the shirts being sold in gay bookstores, that year I purchased a booth at New York City's Gay Pride parade and sold my T-shirts as one of the parade vendors.  That was a very cool experience.  

A few years later, I was at the NYC Gay Pride parade and noticed a woman was wearing one of my T-shirts with the designs I call "Rings" (that would be the turquoise and lavender design in the lower left corner in the above photograph).  As I approached her, I noticed the shirt was both stained and faded.  I asked her where she had gotten that shirt.  Before she could answer, her partner responded with, "Oh my God, this is her favorite shirt, she never takes it off!"  I smiled.  But she responded with a story about how she had bought the shirt a few years back at the parade from a guy who had a booth and was selling them.  I told her I was that guy, and she demanded I sign the shirt.  She whipped out a Sharpie and I signed the shirt...right on her chest.  
What an incredible thrill!  Seriously!