Ayrton Senna - Final + Process (Patreon)

Hello Patrons!

Here is my latest drawing, of you guessed it, another formula 1 driver. This time, it is Ayrton Senna of Brazil.

This one is special because I spent a really long time on it and it was also for a contest so I was very particular about it (See image two for probably 1/3 of all my variations). But ultimately I wanted it to have this photo of him, this car, his name (obv) and either the brazilian flag or at least its colors. Many of the variations had the colors but just 1) were too much 2) were christmas or mcdonalds colors 3) looked like the heinz ketchup bottle 3) didn't have enough contrast or 4) were too whimsical. I did not want to do too much of my skater text or surround him in little doodles, this is a serious matter. I also debated putting the old mclaren logo but didn't like too much red with the f1 logo. I really liked the idea of making the arch look like his helmet stripes (second variation pic) but it was a bit too much still. Ultimately, the lighter yellow halftone background, with the blue and green accents/text was the best route.

It started as all my drawings do, as a very crude apple notes app sketch:

 I then brought it into adobe fresco, onto a canvas where a lesser version of the drawing already existed, and came up with this comp:

The coloring process came very naturally as I already spent 4 or 5 hours of my day drawing and I was extremely warmed up.

 I strayed from the reference quite a bit, used it mostly for colors and general shapes. I did very little "overworking" as that is what gave me so much trouble in my earlier version. So this rough base was pretty much how it remained. I then did most of my experimentation before continuing rendering.

 At this point, I added only really a very faded white to his clothes to not draw too much attention to it, and let the car pop out on top of it. I added some little touch ups on the nose and forehead and then I go to render the car.

 This was my near final, final version. I added a tinge of orangey overlay or perhaps green to the car to make it a bit more vintage and then brought it to photoshop where I added the logos, text, and closed in the arch a bit. I also lightened the drawing and adjusted levels and all that.

 I liked this version ok, but as a last whim I made the text green and blue! (And changed eterno to sempre, I've seen both used but mclaren used sempre)

 the end!