Who am I looking at?  How did you make him come to life?  What is it about that illustration that boasts such vivid personality?

Atlanta based artist, Matthew Miller‘s fashion illustrations are portraits of real people.  He showcases both people he knows in real life and men that he may have passed walking into a coffee shop.  You are looking often at a true story about his subject, he lets us into to his what he thinks when viewing this person.  But even more, Miller shows us a bit of how the people he illustrates view themselves.

“Here we have Shawn Cuni. At first glance you see a modern messianic figure who turns water into whiskey. As you get to know him you see a man whose passions are great and whose talents are nigh unrivaled.”-Matthew Miller

Who is this Shawn Cuni?(pictured below)   And, can I be his friend, maybe yesterday.  A man that can turn water into whiskey!  We all need one of those.

Of course, Miller is simply pointing out that fabulous beard, long hair, and a far more cozy crown of thorns, a beanie.  Wait, did Jesus Christo come back in the form of a calm, confident man, effeminately poised, known in Hot ‘Lanta as Shawn Cuni?!

I am kidding. Mostly.  If I ever have the opportunity to meet you Shawn Cuni I hope that we, plus Matthew of course can talk over a nice glass of wine, coffee or whiskey.

Forgive me for calling it “Hot ‘Lanta”,  I hope it doesn’t probe at your last nerve similar to the way people call SF, “Frisco”.  Really, Frisco?!  Whatever.

So, I was looking over Miller’s portfolio (its not stalking if you have a blog about illustration), and I was so happy to see that with each fashion portrait, he tends to share details on the technical aspect of his artistic process.  By no means does Miller intend to display a “how to” novel, yet with brief one sentence insertions, he shares his technique.

“5. When the watercolor has dried washes of acrylic and watercolor are used to sculpt the form of the figure along with final touches of india ink on top.” -Matthew Miller

View more here.

@D2Gapparel @d2gapparel Thanks for the write up, it was very flattering

— Matthew (@sfmanhero) June 27, 2012