STEP-BY-STEP:LIVE FROM DEATHROW

The former camelot that was DEATHROW included powerhouses CEO Suge Knight, beatmaker maestro extraordinaire Dr.Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. And yes, it would make a very impressive illustration if I could get it to look as right as it did in my head. After 2 failed attempts, it was this or nothing. So, let me show you how I got here.

STEP ONE: Utilizing multiple images from the Source and Vibe magazines or just any advertisements that included pictures of the foursome, I went through nearly 30 or so pictures and narrowed down the playing field to these main 4. First I used Prismacolor Verithin Dark Brown to render a very loose outline on all four major subjects. This was one of the first times that I had ever used colored pencils in my drawings so I kind of freestyled a little to see how it would look. Once the layout was completed, I began initial airbrushing. The colors used here are my favorite combination of Createx Light Brown and Dark Brown 2:1 ratio with several drops of violet put into the mixture. This is strictly for details and values only.

STEP TWO: More values and details are slowly airbrushed in. You can begin to see the main figure in the illustration (Suge Knight) begin to develop and take shape.

STEP THREE: I basically followed the same steps and exacted the same method to flesh out and outline the remaining subjects in the illustration. Once I had them outlined I lightly sprayed the entire area with this color combination before moving on to the next step.

STEP FOUR: This step, I utilized Dark Brown with several drops of violet and light brown. I used this for only the dark values of the subjects such as shadows on the sides of the nose, nostrils, hairlines, mustaches and eyebrows. Once that is done, again I lightly spray the entire area and continue to tie in all of the subjects values.

STEP FIVE: Several steps will take place here. I spray the entire area, but this time with golden yellow. It's not a heavy spray, but a gradual left to right incorporation of spray, lightly and evenly across the subjects. Once I've done that, the lips are airbrushed in with a combination of 1/2 ounce of flamingo pink, with 6 drops each of light brown and yellow, and 2 drops of tinting white. I then combine 1/2 ounce of extender with these colors. This color combination is for the lips, the tips of the noses, earlobes and the bottom portion and corner of the eyes.

Before I go any further, I use pthalo green with 3 drops of tinting black for Snoop Dogg's shirt. Then I begin work with the beards and mustaches, eyebrows and any area that is considered a shadow. 1/2 ounce of transparent black and 1/4 ounce of extender is used for this. To the top right of the illustration, I use 100% transparent black and slowly work my way to the left of the picture leaving a small unairbrushed area to spray in golden yellow. At the heart of that, a small blast of opaque white is sprayed in as well as sprayed into the whites of everyone's eyes.

STEP SIX: Dark brown is sprayed into the eyeballs to complete work there. For the jewelry, (rings, earrings, necklaces and watches) I used transparent sky blue with several drops of tinting white. I had to play with the drops to get just the right hue that I was looking for and then I sprayed them in.

STEP SEVEN: I go on to glue in rhinestones for diamond earrings for Dr. Dre, a nose stud, ring and watch for Tupac Shakur and the diamond encrusted ring and diamond earring for Suge Knight. This is where the airbrushing takes a break because this took a little time.

STEP EIGHT: All of my rhinestoning is finished finally. This was a painstaking step, but it looks good having spent a couple of hours lining the right size stones in their proper place. I take my airbrush back out and start touching up any spots that I may've missed during my first initial run through of the illustration.

STEP NINE: And finally, Camelot completed. Once again, it's a wrap.