Famous Figures — Historical Portraits in the Hedcut Style

A client in Texas retained my services a year or so ago. The business-owners wanted to create a showcase devoted to Great Americans. They needed large banners to adorn this space and hired me to draw the images for these banners. The banners were about three feet in height. I had to draw my portraits to match that size. I illustrated 20 or so of these historical portraits in the Hedcut style of The Wall Street Journal. Because of the size of the finished banners, the original art had to be created at twice or more the usual size.Here are a handful of the portraits I made…

Historical Portraits in the Hedcut Style

Ellen Ochoa, first Hispanic Woman to go to space, and the Director of the Johnson Space Center.Martin Luther King, the great civil rights leader.Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and Visionary Innovator.Helen Keller, the famous blind and deaf figure who inspired so many by overcoming her handicap, and learning to communicate. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. Barbara Jordan, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972, she was the first woman in her own right to represent Texas in the House. In 1974, she presented an opening speech during the hearings that were part of the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. Jordan never flat out said that she wanted Nixon impeached, but rather subtly and cleverly implied her thoughts. She simply stated facts that proved Nixon to be untrustworthy and heavily involved in illegal situations. (-wikipedia)I hope you enjoyed this tour of some Great Americans I’ve portrayed. It was a most interesting assignment!