Approach

I like the level of detail and subtle flare of emotion in Close’s early work. So, I decided to make my recreation in a way that emulates the style, color, composition, and intent of his early work without using his creation techniques. His enormous portraits works took him months to complete, so I had to use a different approach to keep the time spent under two hours, but I wanted to keep the end result similar. I wanted a tired-looking, unflattering self-portrait that showed the unglamorous life of a student.