That famous man whose name means „shining snake“ (quechua) and „thankful to god“ (arabic)

At first, that was a simple not even finished drawing. Nearly a sketch. I made it during a period when I was studying portraits. I made thousands of them during some years, trying hard to learn how to draw faces. Most weren’t that good. Some weren’t that bad. This one belongs to the 2nd category. As a die-hard fan of 2 Pac, I decided to portray his so expressive face. When I finished drawing the eyes, I realised they were so expressive and summarized so perfectly who Tupac was, that completing the drawing would only make it look worst. That strange moment artists know so well : when you are very satisfied with what you made until then (this kinda feeling is rare), that you are literally paralyzed by the fear of ruining it if you add something more. You are at a crossroads with such a hard decision to make : to leave your drawing/painting nearly perfect (or better said : not bad) but unfinished, or to finish it with the risk of making it worst than before. That time, I choosed to leave it unfinished, like a young over-talented musician or basketball player that died way too young. That one that will feed discussions for decades about how great he/she could have been if he/she would have lived longer. Or how bad… I like the idea of unifinished things because they set no bounds to the imagination. They leave everything possible.

That drawing isnt technically my best one. But that eyes expression is something I have never been able to reach again. This is very important for me to put emotions in my drawings or paintings. This 2 Pac’s portrait is maybe my best attempt to put soul in my artistic works. But my portraits only reached maturity when I learned to paint…years after. I  decided to use this drawing to inspire a painting. At first, I was afraid I would never be able to give it as much soul as I gave to the drawing. But step by step, concentrating hard on it, I have succeeded giving the eyes that powerful feeling I gave to the sketch (I leave you judge it), plus an extra passion thanks to the orange colour that wasn’t existing on the black & white drawing.

Why Pac then?

- Cause he was so good at describing emotions or life situations with simple but strong words (like Bob Marley)

- Cause his music has so much soul

- Cause his lyrics – even if located in black American ghettos – are still universal

- Cause his music is timeless and still move people more than 20 years after his death (even teenagers that weren’t even born when he died)

- Cause he had such a bright mind (don‘t be fooled by him playing the dumb gangster)

- Cause he had the potential to be one of the greatest leader fort he black community that we had seen for years

- Cause he was such a great actor that when he started starring gangsters in movies he could not stop it when the cameras went off (what eventually cost his life later)

- Cause he was one of the best at communicating emotions with his music (a great actor I told you)

- Cause music miss him so damn much

- Cause his biography is so unbelievable it seems like pure fiction. Imagine that he spent the first months of his life in jail, while in the womb of his mother, a Black Panther activist convicted of carrying bombings in New York. Many other of his family members were also Black Panther members or thugs who spent years in jails. Even before he was born, he was already damned. Growing up, he studied poetry and theatre, arts he used to channel his hatred of a poor young black man living in the USA. But he finally became famous thanks to another art : music. He was first rapping as Mc New York (he lived there), a fact that is very ironic since he became later the leader of the West Coast rap scene vs the East Coast scene. A leadership that led him directly to death in 1996. And it’s no fiction. A true legend.