I believe this drawing was done last fall sometime, but it was a fun project. Aside from this film remaining at the top of my list of favorites, it was fun to experiment with a different size source photo… and then to decide whether or not I should add in the background. In the long run, I certainly was glad I did.
This drawing has been a long time coming. Back when I had done the drawing of Ray from “Ghostbusters,” I had wanted to also do this scene from the film. It’s when Bill Murray as Peter Venkman gets attacked by the ghost of Slimer. Iconic! I finally decided it was time to give it a shot and it was a fun project to say the least. Definitely happy to work on this one and get it done. I had started it the evening of October 23rd, 2009 and worked on it for about eight or so separate evenings, around two to four hours each session.
This drawing was done with the usual grades of pencil on a piece of Bristol board paper. I used 4H to lay it out and then stuff like 3H, H, HB, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B and 6B. Finally, I used my preferred Ebony Jet Black pencil to get the blacks blacker — especially with the gloves. It was completed the morning of November 24, 2009.
“Venkman! Venkmaaaaan!”
This portrait of Dan Akroyd from his role as Ray Stanz in Ghostbusters marked my return to portraits in 2004. It’s the first finished drawing I started probably since the Jim Caviezel sketch. While some drawings rested unfinished in a pad somewhere (including Harpo Marx, which thankfully I finished in 2005 and Harrison Ford as Han Solo from Star Wars…….. which I still haven’t finished!), it felt good to get this one finished.
I used a wide variety of pencils for this one, like the others, and used regular acid-free drawing paper. Oh, and for the record: Smoking isn’t cool. This is just a classic shot of Ray from the movie and the photo inspired me to replicate it.
The only memory I have of drawing this one was actually when I visited my old college NCC one night with a college friend of mine who had been taking classes there, but had broken their foot or something and needed a ride to the library. I just sat and worked on the Ray drawing while they did research. Funny the weird random things we remember…
