Conceptual Celebrity Portrait

For Anita Kunz's assignment I decided to do a portrait of Miles Davis. My concept is based on a few things I found during my research. The first thing I discovered was that he was called the "Picasso" of Jazz. This led me to Picasso's blue period- which obviously ties in with Cool Jazz. The final part of my concept came when one of my teachers told me that when Miles was getting really old, in the later part of his career, he held the trumpet at his chest. People thought he was in this slumped-over position because he was cool, but really it was because he was old and could not hold up his instrument. I immediately thought of the painting of the guitarist by Picasso. I used the composition and pose from his painting and also tried to use a similar pallette, leaving the instrument as the warmest part. I really enjoyed doing this piece and have since realized that this is a direction I want to pursue.