Django Reinhardt

Another old piece, this one from 1995. A portrait of Django Reinhardt. One of my brothers asked me to draw this picture for him to give to a friend. I'd done a drawing of another jazz musician that he gave to one friend and his intention was to give this to another friend. I found out several months later that he was so happy with it that he couldn't give it away. I was very flattered, it is still hung in his living room.

I haven't done this kind of drawing in a very long time. I do like some of it, like the shading on the guitar and hands, but I wish I was able to make the shading in the background a little more subtle. Although this portrait isn't completely accurate, I do feel a need to point out that this photo was taken at an angle that skews the proportions a bit (the dark black sections on the right and left are the mat board).

In addition to the story of my brother keeping this piece, my other favorite story related to this is the left hand. The photo I was working from was very blurred around the edges and I couldn't make out the details. I told my brother I did the best I could, but that was about all I could make out. This is when he told me that Django Reinhardt's left hand was seriously disfigured in a fire and what was amazing about his playing was that he did most of his bridge work with two fingers. I was told that I may have made his fingers look better then they actually were.