Creative Pick of the Week: ‘Empire: The Lyon Family’ by Courtney Lovett

‘Empire: The Lyon Family’ by Courtney Lovett [Click to Enlarge]

The lion/Lyon-themed artwork depicts the stars of FOX’s latest primetime hit: a pensive Lucious Lyon (played by Terrance Howard ), his tenacious ex-wife Cookie Lyon (played by Taraji P. Henson ), their tortured eldest son Andre (played by Trai Byers ), and musical superstar sons Jamal and Hakeem (played by Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y. Gray ).

Undeniably talented, 18-year-old Courtney studies computer animation at Maryland’s Towson University, with hopes of one day working for the likes of Disney, Pixar, or Dreamworks as an animator/illustrator.

Her Empire collage was completed over the course of a weekend (about 36 hours) using Photoshop CC.

“Everything about this show inspired me to create this piece,” Courtney explains. “It is a good show with a great storyline, amazing characters, and outstanding music. Even if you exclude all the music, the show is a drama-filled experience in itself that focuses on topics such as love, family, power, discrimination, and others with which many people, including myself, can relate.”

She wanted to include Lucious’ fiancée we all love to hate, Anika (played by Grace Gealey ) but didn’t think the character fit into the portrait.

While Courtney says she works best with graphite, her tools also include colored pencil, charcoal, pen and ink, paint, pastels, and now digital.

“Last summer, I began tackling the medium of digital art,” she says. “And since then, it has been my medium of choice.”

See more of Courtney’s work on her Instagram and contact her for commission work via email at [email protected] .

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