Acrylic portrait painting for artist Amir Shakir created by Ivette Cabrera.

This artwork titled “Akiro Warrior with Machete” celebrates a black warrior styled like a Moorish prince with a variety of textures and fabrics. The artwork is a new format than the usual artworks that are primarily murals or drawings,

I took the photo of Amir in our art studio and recreated the image matching the color of the fabrics etc. I wanted the strong contrast of the warm tones oh his face with the green background. The machete in many cultures is a very important tool that is used to cultivate and for battle.

Below are some pictures of the color mixing process required to achieve the final result. Skin tones are mix of various colors depending on the light source and surrounding objects within the scene. I begin by creating various options and then narrow down to the most important colors for the artwork. I create a quick sketch to make sure that I like the composition of the artwork.