the samurai mom and the superkid

 The third illustration of last Christmas' gifted portraits is of a dear friend from my hometown and her cool kid, who's my nephew's bestie. Hope that didn't sound too confusing. In the painting he's right on point, on her I struggled a bit, to match her features just right, but you know, that happens, it's not always 100% because if it would be, they wouldn't be cartoon portraits, just portraits. The realistic kind, which I can't do for the likes of me. Actually just thinking about this makes me really question how in the world I got into painting portraits in the first place. It was my least favourite thing in art school. But spending hours and hours on little details was truly my jam, so I guess I found a happy mix between the two. 

Anyway, back to the portrait, I wanted this one to be very simple, yet also incorporate some of the most important things that they both love. So for him, I chose his favourite cap because there's a very cute story behind it and if I'm not mistaken, it was how he and my nephew met; and also his love and passion for Nintendo Switch and SuperMario. And for her, I wanted to include her love for everything martial arts and the Japanese culture and also her passion for motorbiking. I think everything's there. Yup!