the second art trade i started and the first one i completed out of the three batch i did/am doing at the time of writing this (1 2 go!) character belongs to calamari_art on instagram (cause thats where i asked if anyone wanted to do uh the thing.)

i drew this on my like #3 or #2 visit to new york back 2 back withing like few weeks of each other then went to a bunch of other neighboring states, ~observing~ colleges through states till we finally got back home. i drew most of this in the fucking huge ass lexus my dad rented, sitting in the back cause its one of those massive ass cars where theres seats in the trunk. applaud me.

the guitar is definitely fucked up if you zoom in, especially the strings. i really dont know how like, guitars work. i went on like an adventure to figure out how electric guitar amps work. i remember seeing them always like, on the side's bottom??? but all of the references i had were of it they were like a oval thing where the cord connected to the middle of it, i think. anyone who plays guitars probably are laughing reading this.

shoutout to the shoes & pants, i had a painful yet fun time drawing them. i was going for a leathery texture, and i didnt have any references availble, so i just kinda guessed. i think it turned out ok though.

worst part (besides the guitar, btw dont zoom in on the strings) was the hair. i didnt know what the do with the lighting, and i struggled to get the bleached inner hair look right. if you look at it too long i think it becomes too obvious i gave up trying to make it work lolll

funnest part was definitely the background. going in i had a rough vision; a collage of tomatoes or something, but i turned out different but i dont hate it!! theyre all just random images i thought would fit. i wanted it to look confusing some parts, like it was a mystery amalgimation and you couldnt make out what parts were what, blend modes, etc. etc. but you can decipher the majority, halftoned tomato slices, poppies, and a random pattern thing that added a nice contrasting green and spontaneous teal. silly.