Finally! day 30 of 30 - the last post of the last drawing.

This has long been my favorite image of Jesus. It's not my art - I came across it online somewhere years ago.

So many depictions of Jesus are deep, serious, heavy and sombre. This drawing is how I personally like to picture Jesus; upbeat, happy, healthy, thrilled to be in your company and thrilled that you want to have a relationship with him. He looks here like he's pulling for you, believes in you, sees you primarily for your positive traits and thinks you can do it (whatever it is).

This Jesus image is alive, fun and vibrant - someone that is a kick to be around.

I've always been impressed at how much emotion this artist conveys in this very simple collection of broad lines and white shapes. This is good art whittled down to just the critical 'working parts'.

As much as I like the simplicity of this I've sometimes wished for a more finished version of this same pose and expression, so here it is:

I started by blocking in the same flowing solid shapes but then, instead of filling them in solidly as in the reference photo I developed the depth and tone of a more realistic pose.

The '30 day/30 portraits' drawing adventure has been lots of fun! Devoting high quality time to just about anything on a regular basis is bound to pay dividends. It's certainly has been the case for my portrait drawing skills. I still believe, as stated in earlier posts that if you can capture a likeness accurately you can draw just about anything. It feels good to have made much progress towards that end.

Thank you for following along - I hope you enjoyed the adventure too!