Erin Hannon (The Office) - Exclusive 2 of 4 (6/24) (Patreon)

A while back, I did a loose closeup painting of Pam. Then, I did a true Exclusive in typical EmpiricalSmut fashion, featuring Pam. And now, finally, I buckled down and have done the other secretary at Dunder Mifflin, Erin Hannon, who is portrayed by Ellie Kemper.

This piece was tricky due to the camera angle I chose. It's a slight bird's-eye view, with the camera looking down on the subject. Not only that, but the main horizontal vanishing point, which is the line that is parallel to the back wall, the back desk, and many of the items aligned with said wall, is not horizontal in the frame itself, but is instead at a slight -20 degree (or so) angle. So usually, drawing this line, and the background objects to which it is parallel, is a matter of holding down a key and dragging the Photoshop brush, to create a quick, easy horizontal line. With everything at this angle, though, I had to draw out a series of parallel horizontal lines, rotate it -20 degrees, lower the opacity, and then draw the background objects in accordance with that, by using the Pen Tool. The end result looks really dynamic and fun, especially with Erin propping her feet up toward the direction of the camera, but it does take a bit of extra time and effort overall.

This also was my second time drawing this reception desk area, but I was still finding it hard to find quality, detailed reference photos of the space behind the half-circle desk. The details of the set dressing also changes across the nine seasons of the show, so even if I got multiple good shots from different angles, chances were that the specific boxes, or placement of items, were different. I had to pick one, and stick with it, along with, per usual, taking a few creative liberties here and there.

Once the background was done, it was pretty easily putting Erin in there, since both her and the background were sketched in loosely from the start. The body and feet were straightforward to do -- I can render feet with ease, and the basic outfit also lent itself to a simplistic process. I spent a lot of time on the head -- as always, it starts with finding a reference shot of the model (Ellie Kemper in this case), and working from there. She has this wonderful big, beaming smile, that just carries so much of Erin's personality in it.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this turned out. c: