Brian Blessed - drafting

A British icon and legend, Blessed has a booming personality, something I'd love to capture.

Previously, I'd been struggling with smooth skin tones and had moderate success. 

Focused more on complex features such as wrinkles and beards now.

ヒキガエル - final

A4 Wood - Acrylics / Pencils

James Gandolfini - final

A3 Wood - Acrylics / Pencils

Was pretty happy to leave the piece at this point. Although not perfect, overworking the shading would've created a much darker piece than wished.

James Gandolfini - drafting

The Sopranos ended 6 years ago, but since then barely a day has gone by without rerunning a handful of Tony or Paulie dialogue in my head. 

When James Gandolfini passed away a few days ago, it only seemed right to pay my respects.

It seemed clear that the portrait subject matter I'd been working with previously hadn't resonated with me and had reflected in the works quality.

Caring about this character made me step it up a notch. Choosing natural and realistic skin tones to bring out the depth of Gandolfini's features.

ヒキガエル - drafting

Whilst walking through Nakano, I bumped into this little guy. 

Hikigaeru (ヒキガエル - common toad) are pretty aggressive, and I'm pretty sure could take down a small child.

Currently I'm looking for realism in tones and textures, so toads seem like a good starting point.

Sekaido - 2013

2013 entry - F3 canvas / Acrylics

Initially setting out for a bugs-eye-view visual, missed the mark a fair bit. With a few more hours I'd like to have darken the women's facial contours a little, as the light against dark backdrop was a little harsh. But all in all, scaling up on last years work, creating 2 pieces on a right deadline, it didn't turn out half bad!

2012 entry - F2 canvas / Acrylics

Sekaido work - week deadline

The previous canvas debacle left me with just 7 days to create a new piece in time for the exhibit. Recreating the same visual on a smaller canvas would've been much simpler but where's the fun in that.

Time restraints led to a limited pallet, meaning black would be taken out of the equation. Initially I wanted a more vibrant bubbly piece anyway since the last had been pretty morbid.

The yellow sky was a base layer to motivate a lighter mood whilst working, but eventually needed to be darkened to balance the shading on the plants.

Sonic Soba

Ordinarily I would never play with my food, but after seeing "Sugar Rush" (シュガーラッシュ)  or "Wreck-It-Ralph" in the US, I just couldn't resist a walk down memory lane.