Just a quick post to show off my latest writers portrait illustration the unbelievably talented, William Shakespeare! He was really fun to draw and it was great to break out of the Victorian era for a bit and jump back a few hundred years to the Elizabethan Age.

Debra Styer, Much Ado About Shakespeare, 2015

It is a special challenge to draw portraits of people before the invention of photography. All of the existing paintings of him done are so different. For reference, I used the younger

Cobbe portrait

from 1610,

and the more traditional

Droeshout Portrait

from 1622. I suppose I like the older version of Shakespeare myself. I think we all have a certain vision of writing legends in our minds. I hope I was able to capture a good creation of the Bard.

Of course, he is now available in the shop! I hope you like him!! Hope you like him!