Artist Spotlights

Devil’s in the Details

Paul King’s incredible illustrations bring celebrity portraits to life

That sound you will hear during the 2023 Art In The Park will be that of collective jaws opening from inside Paul King’s booth of drawings.

King, who lives about 20 minutes outside Traverse City, is bringing some 150 drawings of famous musicians, actors and “other notables” – which to anyone who has ever peered at one of his works look just like photographs.

“When people come into my booth they think they’re photos,”

By Tim Smith

break,” King said. “Those are typically dark. And then that gives me my facial perspective. And I fill it all in with a mid-tone gray and then I start air brushing in the darker scale and then I come back and flow in lighter scales, the whites, highlights.”

He’ll slow the process down considerably to make sure he accurately depicts “all the teeny skin bumps and stuff. Totally, the devil’s in the details.”

According to King, himself a former singer-songwriter and musician, doing a basic portrait takes nearly 24 hours.

“Drawing someone with a guitar takes about 34 hours.” King continued. “And full bands take from 10 days to two weeks.”

On sale will be a bevy of 11x14 and 16x20 portraits -- high-artquality prints of his work.

Practice Makes Perfect

Salem High student continues to grow as a painter and artist

One of the secrets of success is finding a passion and following it as long as possible. For 15-year-old Salem High School sophomore Mariyah Larji, that passion is to create head-turning works of art –colorful landscapes and still lifes suitable to hang on a wall.

And there’s a very cool bonus for Mariyah as she will be one of the youth artists at the annual Art In The Park at Kellogg Park, slated for the weekend of July 7-9. It is the second straight year where she will be selling her acrylic paintings, and she is looking forward to having a booth in the “Kids Section” yet again.

products on sale in her booth.

“I get a lot of, ‘Oh wow, this is so amazing, how old are you? Or ‘How did you learn how to do this, what’s your inspiration?’” Mariyah noted. “Usually I just say it’s a hobby of mine since I was young (age 4-5) and I just keep on practicing. That’s the one thing I can say, keep on practicing.” said King, set to appear July 7-9 at Kellogg Park. “I have to tell them no, these are all handdrawn and they are not photos. And then their eyes widen.”

The pandemic also played a role in her budding talent. With more time on her hands, she started painting much more often.

He finds photographs on the Internet, such as one from the mid-1950s of a young Elvis Presley performing on Milton Berle’s variety television show.

After locating a potential drawing subject, King does a couple hours of research to make sure he knows every single detail before swinging into action. With a photo on an adjacent computer for a handy reference point, King uses a Wacom interactive drawing tablet to create his artistic magic.

“Typically, I start with the face, the almond shape of the eyes, the two nostrils and the lip

King said he began drawing caricatures around 2018, but found out people preferred more-realistic works and began doing his have-to-see-to-believe portraits. Visit Paul King Artwerks (www.paulkingart. com) to view samples of his work, including everybody from Aerosmith to ZZ Top.

“People say ‘How long does it take you to draw one’ and I said about 35 years,’” said King, with a laugh. “Portraits are kind of a lost art. It just takes time and knowledge. And then doing it, doing it, doing it.”

King is making his first appearance at Art In The Park, deciding to forego his usual go-to show – the single-day Beulah Art Fair taking place on Crystal Lake near his upper Michigan home on the same weekend.

AITP art lovers will be glad he made that choice.

Paul King will be located in booth #326 at Art In The Park.

“My sister (Zainub, 20) is pretty artistic and I like to copy her, you know?” said Mariyah, about who initially inspired her to paint. “She never did Art In The Park, but this is one thing I’m going to do because this is cool. I really like art and I want to be able to show off my art skill to everybody else.”

In 2022, Mariyah sold 41 of 45 paintings, primarily of skylines, oceans, ships, books and candles. Of course, she would like to break her own personal record this time around, but there are other important benefits to participating in Art In The Park.

“This is a really good learning opportunity for me, too,” Mariyah said. “I get to learn a lot more about what I like to do and I learn new techniques and I also meet a lot of other amazing artists.”

Mariyah also likes talking to people at the art show, not only about what prompted her artistic passion but about the finished

She and her mom would buy canvas-on-wood frames at Michael’s and enough acrylic paint and brushes to get to work. Mariyah often was guided by photographs she found on Google and Pinterest.

“One thing I discovered during Covid is that a lot of stuff you can blend out, so I kind of used my fingers to blend out the sky and the ocean just to make it more realistic looking,” she said.

By early June, Mariyah already has completed about 20 new works and figured to paint another 30 in time for Art In The Park.

Regardless of how the early July weekend goes for Mariyah, art will always be a part of her world.

“One thing about painting is that if I ever have so much going on in my life, with school work, I can just sit down, put on a TV show or music, just relax and paint something that’s fun and interesting,” Mariyah explained. “And when you’ve finished it’s a big accomplishment.”

Mariyah Larji will be located in Kellogg Park.