Smoother

I analyze visuals w/ the same scrutiny that I use on audio. When I want to vectorize anything I break it down into shadows, mid-tones, and highlights. The black and white photo I referenced for this had a good deal of character hidden in its grayscale. My aim was to anchor the gray tones in a deep black setting. The contrast against the white background forces all attention to CL Smooth's eyes the same way Pete Rock production focused all the attention on CL's wordplay and varying cadences.

This was all done in Adobe Illustrator.