Kicking Off This Amanda 70s Thing
So, this idea just kinda popped into my head one day, you know? Amanda Lepore, but totally styled out for the 70s. Like, full-on disco glam. Don’t really know where it came from, it just felt like something I absolutely had to try and create. Just one of those weird creative urges you get sometimes. I was pretty hyped about the whole concept.
First thing I did, of course, was just immerse myself in everything 70s. I spent ages looking through old photos, flicking through scans of vintage magazines, checking out album covers from that era. Really trying to absorb the colors – all those warm oranges, deep browns, the wild psychedelic patterns. And then, naturally, I spent a lot of time looking at Amanda’s own iconic style. She’s such a legend, you really don’t want to mess that up. The big challenge, I figured, was going to be blending those two very distinct worlds without making it look like a complete train wreck. I spent a good few nights just staring at reference images, letting all those ideas kind of mix together in my brain.
Getting My Hands Dirty: The Actual Process
Alright, so then came the part where I actually started making the piece. I got my usual digital art software all fired up. My first few attempts? Honestly, they were pretty rough. Things looked a bit awkward, a bit forced, if you know what I mean. Trying to get that genuine 70s vibe without just slapping some cheap-looking grainy filter over everything was way harder than I initially thought. It’s super easy to make stuff look tacky if you’re not careful.
The hair was a major hurdle. I was trying to picture that classic 70s feathered hairstyle, but on Amanda. It took a whole bunch of attempts to get it to look, well, right. And the makeup! Oh man, the makeup. Trying to capture that 70s glitter and shine, but still keep it true to Amanda’s signature features. I messed around with the lighting for ages, trying to get that soft, almost dreamlike glow you often see in photographs from that period. And the colors, geez, the colors. Getting the palette to feel both authentically 70s and also perfectly Amanda was a real tightrope walk. Lots of layering, endless tweaking, constantly stepping back from the screen, squinting, then diving back in.
I thought about adding some classic 70s items or maybe a distinctive background, but in the end, I decided to keep the focus sharp and tight on Amanda herself. Didn’t want to make it too busy or cluttered. The main goal was to capture a feeling, that specific blend of Studio 54 decadence mixed with her unique, powerful presence. It took a while, a lot of trial and error, but eventually, something just clicked. It wasn’t perfect, nothing I make ever really is, but it started to feel like the image I had in my head from the beginning.
I ended up feeling pretty good about the final result, actually. It’s got that specific atmosphere I was really hoping to achieve. It was just a fun little side project, nothing too serious, but I definitely learned a fair bit about how to fuse different visual styles. Sometimes those completely random ideas are the most rewarding ones to follow through on.
