I’d like to introduce you to the process of one of my first guitar illustrations. I’ve noticed not many musicians have personalized art on their instruments, and I think it’s a beautiful way to show some extra uniqueness and personality with ones music.
This guitar is coveted by its owner as their go-to guitar. He said that if his house was burning down this would be the one thing he would grab above all else. He has spent a lot of times playing it up north in Canada, along the Georgian Bay, so I decided to create the iconic rock scenes from that area. The fact that this guitar is a bit beat up and worn adds to the rustic charm in my opinion.
I started by tracing the outline of the image, and making deep grooves in to the wood with a pencil. I then sanded off the varnish within the image, and traced it with acrylic black pen.
I then added the details with a diner black pen, and used shades of more acrylic colour paint to fill in the rocks. I decided to leave some of the original wood showing through to make it a bit more subtle and natural, and in this way even if the paint fades it will work well with the look of the guitar.
A few hours later of filling the details in its finished. It’s recommended to spray over guitar art with a varnish spray, but this client wanted to keep the matte, natural look. The fact that I made the deep grooves in the wood ensures the image will stay permanently.
The final product!
