Even though most of the work I do is indoors at conventions, I still like taking part in mural festivals and street painting events. I was asked to appear at MuralFest recently in Binghamton, NY, and was having trouble deciding on the subject matter for what I should draw.

As fate would have it, a controversial photo would hit the internet and rile the geek community two nights before… and WHAM, I knew what I was drawing. It was an interesting challenge to work from the photo source material. The image contains so much white and subtle tones, while there are points of intense detail in the face and tattoos. The splash of purple and green color add to the striking design, and I think it translated well to chalk art.

This is my most viral image to date. A day after it was completed it was shared by an official Jared Leto twitter account, which brought a whole new viewership to my artwork. On Facebook, my Pepper Ink Page had an increase of 38,000% in interactions. That is THIRTY EIGHT THOUSAND PERCENT. I didn’t know that was possible.

I hope to do more comic images in the near future, so keep an eye out. And let me know what you think of this chalk art in the comments below.