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| Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard I: "The Brawl in Montreal." Graphite (2H) on cold press watercolor paper, prior to watercolor paint and ink, 10" X 13", art commission by Coyote Duran It was actually almost a year ago when I created the first piece in what now would become a series for one customer, a friend of mine, Mike Downie from Texas (a watercolor and ink rendering of the classic battle between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, seven minutes and 52 seconds of beautiful violence, known simply as "The War). Months later, Mike would commission a brand-new piece, evoking another classic battle from the early-1980s - June 20, 1980, to be exact - the first meeting between arguably the greatest world lightweight champion of all time, Roberto Duran, and then-undefeated WBC welterweight titleholder Sugar Ray Leonard. The 15-round championship bout ended like few anticipated, with the villainous "Hands of Stone" holding his hands high in triumph before flipping off Leonard's then-wife Juanita. Although, Leonard would authoritatively avenge the loss, via eight-round stoppage, five months later in New Orleans, Louisiana, the ink in boxing's history books is indelible. Roberto Duran handed Sugar Ray Leonard his very first professional loss. Now, regarding this piece, if this scene looks familiar but doesn't (if that makes sense) is because had I replicated the photo reference Mike provided, I would have had to render both Duran and Leonard much smaller, resulting in much unused space between them. So I took a little "artistic liberty" and shortened the space between the two, thus substituting Duran's long right hand, down the pipe, into something of a tight hook (more of a cross, since Duran is a right-hander). If it's difficult for you to visualize, just consider Duran's right elbow being at close to a 90-degree angle from his right fist, if that makes sense. Again, I had to go full pencil rendering on this piece in its layout stage (with my trusty, true-blue Alvin Drafting leadholder, loaded with 2H lead on Strathmore cold-press watercolor paper), simply because it looks dope, Howlers. Anyhoo, it's off to the paint and ink stage now but before you jet, if you haven't seen them just yet via my Instagram feed, here are the process photos: |
Stay tuned for Part Two! And thank you for your patience and sticking around!
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Commissions? Hit me up at coyote@coyoteduran.com. You can also follow me at twitter.com/CoyoteDuran, instagram.com/coyoteduran and facebook.com/CDCreationNation.
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