Michael McFarland’s two-dimensional art explores the expressiveness and variation of the human face through digital ink drawings. Depicting colorful characters in black and white, McFarland’s portraiture utilizes a minimal value scale to distill figures from pop culture and music to their essential aspects.
McFarland was initially drawn to pop culture portraiture as young as 10 years old, drawing characters from shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation by pausing VHS copies of episodes checked out from the local public library. McFarland earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design from Kent State University. During his studies at Kent, he developed a love for high-contrast artwork, working with India ink and brush pens.
Unfortunately, due to a medical condition (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type), McFarland found himself unable to continue working with physical media, as hand cramps prevented him from drawing for more than a few minutes at a time. In September of 2018 he was gifted a pressure-sensitive stylus, and discovered we was able to use the same inking techniques he had previously mastered in a digital medium.