Utilizing Artistic License
with Sylvester Hickmon
One of the most rewarding things about being an artist is bringing your own personality into your drawings. You don’t have to be a slave to your subject, replicating every color, shape, and detail. Sometimes you need to take liberties with your subject matter—especially if you want to add interest to a scene, improve the composition, or change the mood. When an artist alters a subject by changing the lighting, adding or removing an element of the scene, or enhancing the color scheme, it’s called using artistic license. In this drawing, Sylvester Hickmon exercises artistic license to give new life to an old classic car by enlivening it with a new coat of paint and simplifying the background.
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