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DarthFar — Swing That Thing
Published: 2009-11-28 17:32:35 +0000 UTC; Views: 966; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 30
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Description
Lucien Barbarin, New Orleans jazz trombonist (not that this implies he only plays the trombone, mind) who tours with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Harry Connick Jr.'s band. I watched him perform live several years ago at a HCJ concert, and he totally blew my socks right off. After got me his CD two years back (autographed! she actually stood in line for it), I'd been wanting to do a tribute picture... Yeah, it took me two years to get around to it, too.Colour pencils on brown card. And yes, that's the whitest my whites will go. That's what you get for using cheap media.
Title stolen from the lyrics of Barbarin's "Tootie Ma".
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Comments: 41
This is awesome Farsky! I hope you are sending a copy of this to Lucien Barbarin.
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You are so good with drawing metal. *sigh* What's your secret?
I also adore how detailed his facial hair looks and how well you did with the texture of his clothing.
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Whaddya mean, drawing metal? 
Thank you very much.
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It sure looks good to my eyes. I hope you're not suggesting there's something wrong with them.
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Neat-o! My mom's a big HCJr fan, I'm not crazy about *him* especially but I like his band.
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Yeah, his band rocks. 
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It's so pretty to do tributes. I don't know if it's just that I don't take seriously all the drawings/paintings I do, but I noticed that the ones I most dearly treasure are those that have a lot of personal meaning.
I love the man's expression and the soft foldings in his clothes and skin. Also, the lightning in the trombone and the angle chosen are great. Something that I find curious is your choice of the medium to match the subject. Sometimes I have an idea and I struggle with the decision of which instruments to use. Artists who are just oil painters, for example, don't carry that burden. And I've noticed you tend to do portraits of people you admire in that traditional style. Maybe that's a "Far trademark".
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I think it's that degree of connectedness with the subjects we're rendering that make these pictures dear to us.
Thanks, Romy! My choice of media is sometimes more circumstantial than premeditated - this picture was actually *meant* to be completed with soft pastels, but when I tried said soft pastels on a test piece of the same paper, I discovered to my horror that the brown muted the already muted colours of the pastels (that, and I found out that graphite pencils and soft pastels shouldn't mix...). So I did it in CPs instead, haha - but yeah, I do make a conscious call on what media I think best suits a particular subject. (And no, it's not always traditional for the people I admire most: Asimov and Ashkenazy are both in digital media 
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Oh I see, it's more like playing by ear. You know, just today I went to the Fine Arts department to get a camera repaired and I entered in a room full of canvas and one of them read "Frustrated artists sign here" and below it "One experiments and people don't understand". I lol'ed at it, it's so true! It's actually not funny, I mean, it's sad that when artists venture out of their comfort zone, they don't get the same receptivity from the audience. But we have to experiment anyway, it makes us grow I suppose.
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This is brilliant work - my dad was a jazz trumpeteer but he died when he was young x
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Thanks, Lynne! and yeah, you told me about your dad once. He sounded like an awesome guy.
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yay! I knew I told someone but I forgot who! I am turning into one of those senile old people! LOL x
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Don't feel bad about your cheap media, everybody knows that white has no place in jazz music.
Very nice piece, it has real character and expression on his face.
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It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read your comment, or it would have wound up in my lungs when I schnertzed.
Thanks. I like drawing older guys, particularly performance guys: they have so much character.
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Older people have much more character, they have so many extra lines you can toy with.
And you know it's only funny because it's true.
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A truly good trombonist is a wonderful thing to have.
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It's gorgeous--my mother loves this too. She played trombone for years and loves that you got the fingers just right. Never fails to impress, Far! Well done!
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Thanks, Alison! and your mom is a brass player? AWESOME.
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Was a brass player, dear.
She's strictly piano now.
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That's like, a 180-degree-turn from the path *I* took!
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Dude. Trombones are one of the hardest instruments to draw (right up there with French Horn), you did an awesome job with this one. I love it as well as the little back story. I am ashamed to say that I do not know this guy, but i am a musician and always have a great appreciation for your work. Thank you.
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LOL, no kidding! 
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Ha, I play the bass trombone, but i market my self as a low brass specialist (tenor trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, tuba). And yourself?
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I figured you played bass trombone when I popped over to your page and saw "Douglas Yeo" listed as your favourite musician!
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Wow, so a brass player. I swear I would have never guessed. I mean, I can tell you are an amazing artist, because once more, drawing a trombone is a big wtf. But since you drew of that musician and i believe a composer *drawing a blank on who, it was a while ago* I thought you either REALLY supported music or was a musician.
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Oh, you mean the Ashkenazy one?
Are you into brass quintet music? like, say, Canadian Brass?
And uh, thanks.
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Yea he's a classic. HCJ lives in New Canaan where my wife works, he's been into her store several times
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Actually ..she is hehehe
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Wow, looks great! I agree that the finger does look a tad long but I don't really mind. I love the shininess.
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Thank you!
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Well, his ring finger on the hand in the forefront looks a little too long but hey, I fail at drawing hands, so pfsh. I won't complain.
I love it when you draw on colored media, it gives it a soft look that plain old white paper just doesn't do. And you rock at drawing Trombones. Awesome instruments, and you draw them very well. -faves because the world will end if she doesn't-
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Well yeah, I thought so too, but dang, Barbarin has looong fingers (if you haven't noticed the middle finger on that hand!).
Thanks, Sara. I like using coloured cards because I'm lazy, really: by using a coloured card, you don't have to waste so much time - OR MEDIA! - covering up white space.
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I suppose to be good at any instrument one needs long fingers. And yes, anyone who's good enough to tour with Harry Connick Jr.'s band, he can hold his trombone any way he feels like it.
And good point about the colored card... I hate doing a colored drawing on white paper cuz it looks cartoony to me. Then again, it might not if I actually ever drew a background for anything... -shifty eyes- but who needs a background, right?
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Well, you would THINK that professional pianists need long fingers but noooooo the ones I've met all have stubby ones! (Ashkenazy has these really short stubby fingers that make you wonder how he even manages octaves).
These days I try to avoid doing any kind of coloured drawing on white paper unless it's all monochrome, like this , or if it's a base for digital colouring.
Who needs a background, indeed.
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