“In my artwork I strive to express the personality of my subjects and my response to them. My paintings evolve like improvisational dance. The process follows its own path, colors being chosen intuitively, every moment unfolding surprises, each brush stroke feeling its way into the painting. I sculpt in color and form, continuously transforming and remolding my image, like working with wet malleable clay. My experience of the process of creation and how my artwork moves others is what is important to me.” -- Jeremy Sutton

"I want you to be comfortable. It is mainly going to be a head shot," says Jeremy Sutton as he helps his model to relax. "If it is too hot for you in your jacket, please feel free to take your jacket off." The renowned digital artist visited Wacom's offices in Tokyo, Japan to paint the portrait of Masahiko Yamada, President and CEO of Wacom Co., Ltd. During the two-hour session, Jeremy conversed amicably with his model covering such divergent topics as vacation spots, restaurants, shared acquaintances, and even finance.

Such friendly conversation is just one of the techniques Jeremy Sutton uses in his signature portraits. His first priority is to make sure his model is comfortable, relaxing them to bring out their personality. As he does so, his upbeat personality infects those around him. "I can't stop smiling," responded Mr. Yamada as Jeremy told him he didn't have to hold the smile throughout the entire session.

Cintiq 21UX is the canvas

At his studio, Jeremy owns both Wacom's Cintiq 21UX and the more compact Cintiq 12WX, which he uses in combination with his 30" Apple Cinema Display. The Cintiq 12WX allows the artist to switch positions when working, even removing the interactive pen display from the table and working on his lap as a digital sketchpad. And, the Cintiq 12WX conveniently adds an extra monitor that Jeremy uses for his palettes. For this session at the Wacom offices, Jeremy was provided with a Cintiq 21UX which he used in combination with Corel Painter X on his Macintosh notebook.

When drawing portraits, Jeremy tends to work from the top down, initially establishing the structure of his subject’s face. "Eyes pull me in," Sutton explains. "It develops from there. I work from abstraction. With Painter, [the software] just lends itself to that. But [the portrait's] got life. I go for the life and energy, and then for the details." After several minutes, Sutton dutifully saves a version of his work, along with relevant notes. He does a "Save As" every time he changes brushes, eventually ending up with over twenty versions of the artwork during the 2-hour session.

As Mr. Yamada's portrait progresses, Jeremy stands back from the Cintiq to view the screen from a distance. In Jeremy's words, "I need to take a step back from the painting. Sometimes I am so close to it, then I see all the things are still at an early stage." After showing an initial version to Mr. Yamada, a request is made to adjust the facial expression and jaw structure. By adding and subtracting "lights and darks," Jeremy quickly makes the requested changes and suddenly the portrait assumes a much different atmosphere.

Mr. Yamada and Jeremy discuss the portrait's progress.

Adding physical texture

With the digital version complete and designed to his subject's satisfaction, Jeremy will take the data home for some personal post-production work. He will print the Painter version out on canvas, then add extra touches with a traditional paintbrush. "I love texture, and one of the things I strive for is going beyond the digital print," he states. "So no matter what I do in Painter, I am not satisfied with the digital print. I print on canvas, but I want to go beyond that. So right now, most all of my work, I end up working with acrylic or oil on canvas and adding a whole other level."

Recording the process

There are a number of reasons why it can be useful to record the painting process, not the least of which is that clients who pose for portraits are fascinated with the resulting video. Jeremy runs a simple screen capture program called iShowU to document every stroke and every brush change that occurs on the screen. When the drawing session is finished, Jeremy stops the iShowU screen capture program and is able to exhibit the resulting portrait in the form of a QuickTime movie. The movie is instantly ready to be viewed, with no rendering time required. By fast forwarding through the video, Jeremy entrances his audience as the portrait develops from start to finish in a matter of seconds.