So, I decided I wanted to try my hand at drawing Sean O’Malley. You know, “Suga” Sean. That guy’s got a pretty wild style, and I figured, why not? It’s always a bit of a challenge drawing real people, especially fighters who have a certain energy about them.
Getting Started and Old Frustrations
Honestly, I haven’t picked up my pencils for a proper portrait in a while. I got sidetracked with some other stuff, mostly digital, and man, that can be a whole other can of worms. Reminds me of this one gig I had, trying to do some fancy graphic for this small biz. They wanted the moon on a stick, you know? Kept changing their minds, like every five minutes. “Make the logo bigger!” “No, smaller!” “Can we have it in, like, ten different colors?” It was a nightmare.
I spent weeks on it, barely slept, chugging coffee like it was water. And then, after all that, they decided they were “going in a different direction.” Didn’t even use my stuff. Didn’t pay the full amount either, just some small deposit. I was so cheesed off, I tell ya. Felt like chucking my tablet out the window. It really put me off doing any kind of art for a bit. You pour your heart into something, and then bam, nothing. It makes you question why you even bother, right?
That whole mess made me miss just sitting down with paper and pencil. No clients, no software updates crashing on me, no endless revisions. Just me and the drawing. So, yeah, drawing Sean O’Malley felt like a good way to get back to basics, something for myself.
The Actual Drawing Process
Alright, so first things first, I needed some good reference photos. I hopped online and found a bunch. You gotta get different angles, expressions, all that jazz. His hair is iconic, that rainbow stuff, so I knew that was gonna be a focus point. And the tattoos, man, so many tattoos.
Laying it all out:
- I started with a really light sketch. Just trying to get the basic head shape and pose right. Nothing too detailed at this stage.
- Then I began blocking in the main features – eyes, nose, mouth. He’s got that kinda confident, almost cocky look, so trying to capture that was key.
- The hair was next. I didn’t go for every single strand, more like the overall shape and flow of the colors. I actually had some colored pencils I hadn’t used in ages, so I dug those out.
- Tackling the tattoos was… an experience. I didn’t try to replicate every single one perfectly, ’cause that would take forever and probably drive me nuts. I just picked out the most prominent ones, like the “SUGA” on his stomach and some of the face and neck stuff, and tried to get the general feel of them.
I ain’t gonna lie, there were moments I wanted to just crumple up the paper. Getting the likeness just right is tough. Sometimes you look at it and it’s just… off. You gotta step away, come back with fresh eyes. I probably erased and redrew his nose about five times. And the shading, trying to get the shadows to look natural without making him look like he’s got dirt on his face, that’s always a tricky bit for me.
Wrapping It Up
After a good few hours, spread over a couple of days, I finally called it done. Is it a masterpiece? Nah, probably not. But you know what? I actually had fun doing it. It felt good to just create something without any pressure. It’s not perfect, the colors could be better, maybe some proportions are a bit wonky if you look close enough.
But it looks like him, you can tell who it is, and that’s a win in my book. Plus, it got me out of that funk from that awful client experience. Sometimes, just doing something you enjoy, for the sake of doing it, is all you need. Maybe I’ll try drawing another fighter next week. We’ll see.
