Syd

I'm not generally one for drawing attention to a person's death. It's something I prefer to notice on my own and allow to pass, preferring to celebrate them on their birthday as death is something that affects me deeply (I will even purposefully avoid Tumblr on such days so I don't have to be reminded). But 10 years felt worth commemorating. I still remember when I found out all of those years ago. I'd only discovered Pink Floyd and Syd's solo work little less than a year before he died, and although he'd been publicly inactive for decades it naturally still hit me hard. It felt particularly unfair that he should die the day before my birthday, what a downer! He's always remained a living part of me though no matter how much time passes, and always will.




I took a recent uni project as an opportunity to finish off this drawing of Syd that I began last year. You may remember it was fully completed except for his shirt as I had wanted to post it by a specific date and ran out of time, plus I was honestly dreading drawing all of that patterning. I've drawn fairly detailed clothing before and it always takes an age, and it's an aspect I always approach with caution as it can really make or break a drawing. I had originally planned to leave his shirt plain like I'd shown in my previous post, hoping it would look minimal and keep the focus on his face, but it just never looked right to me so I knew I had to complete it to feel happy with the portrait. It definitely looks much better now, it looks finished.

Syd was… you know, physically beautiful, witty, funny. The way he talked, the way he walked. I don’t want to make this sound like a love song, but he was much loved by pretty much everyone around him. - David Gilmour