Commissioned by a retired Police Officer who had previously hired an artist to produce an illustration for a fine art print honoring Officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. A friend referred him to me when he began making plans to produce a similar print to honor Firefighters. Through his contacts he was able to set up a photo shoot at a Station in Milwaukee's Third Ward, with actual members of the Milwaukee Firefighters Honor Guard. I took dozens of photos of the Honor Guard members themselves, the back of a Fire Engine, and even a flag-draped casket they had staged (exactly where it would be placed for an actual ceremony). The piece also appears on the MFD Honor Guard webpage: (click on image)
(Detail)
This is one of the largest digital pieces I have ever completed, working at a scale almost 3 x bigger than anything I'd attempted previously. The faces here were painted as a separate file at twice the normal resolution (to better capture fine details) and then imported back into the main piece.