Sketch and Anthony Bourdain Quote on my covered sketchbook

Sketching Anthony Bourdain

I don’t often get the urge to sketch famous or well-known people, but over the years, Anthony Bourdain has inspired us to visit many a location that wasn’t initially on our “must visit” list.

So I had a couple of attempts at capturing Anthony’s likeness, as a homage to his excellent travel presentation skills.

First Anthony Bourdain Sketch

This first sketch was a bit heavy handed on the wrinkle lines, it would probably have been better to create those using watercolour rather than black ink.

Second Anthony Bourdain Sketch

I liked how I rendered this second portrait, although it has the same heavy-handed wrinkles. I used different paper for this sketchy and it has a more pronounced granulation on the skin tone. I wish I could remember which paper I used, because I like this look.

It has a sheen of varnish on the top of this portrait, as I made it into a fridge magnet (A6 size), and wanted to retain the brightness of the watercolour.

In both of these sketches I limited the colours to this complimentary duo of blue and tan.

I like both sketches for different reasons. I like that I was able to capture his smirk in the first sketch, and I like how loose I painted his hair. But I prefer the clothing in the second sketch, and the overall look of this portrait.

I feel I may have to have another go at these portraits when my skills have improved.

Third Anthony Bourdain Sketch

I should have quit while I was ahead, with the two sketches above! The teeth in this sketch look pretty scary! I think the problem is that I coloured the inside of his mouth as jet black, when it reality it shouldn’t be as dramatically dark at this. But I was happy with the angles of the face.

I decided to used this postcard size portrait as the back cover on my A5 sketchbook. And I used some of the letters I’d cut out to add this Anthony Bourdain quote: I don’t have to be in a place to know it, I can sketch it in my mind.