I Finished a portrait of Frida Kahlo for Eliza Magazine.

I ended up reverse engineering this illustration.  I knew I wanted to do a clean portrait of Frida, and I wanted her to feel more contemporary–not a throwback to or copy of the Nickolas Muray photos that most people are familiar with.  I chose to portray her a bit younger and without all the adornment usually associated with her. 

I was a little anxious and jumped right into the portrait first.  It wasn't until that was pretty much done that I realized I didn't have a concept beyond that.  So I tried some different directions, and while I wanted to keep it clean, I did want to acknowledge her unique personal style (It was an illustration for a fashion magazine) and her life. 

I ended up depicting her with one of her traditional large bead necklaces as it breaks apart around her.  I wanted to use objects that were familiar to and used by Frida herself, such as the string/vein of her necklace and the arterial clamp, but again, I wanted these elements to feel new while paying homage to her own artwork.

I had also played with a simple title treatment of her name that I didn't end up using.  I chose the blue/red palette because of its simplicity and I liked the slightly sterile medical feel it gave the piece, and if anyone is viewing the illustration with 3-D glasses right now, let me know if it looks cool.

I am happy with the final piece.  I have a feeling she would have hated it.