Dim the lights

Yudaina - wip

Still a wip. But I just had to take some time this evening to sort out the lighting a bit. It was annoying me something awful.

Cranky King

Yudaina - wip

Yudaina with frowny face. Probably because the lighting is all over the place. Wip of number 23.

Rough 'n' kinda ready...

Yudaina - wip

Yes... it's him again. Another wip of Yudaina. Face number 22. Woot woot.

Golden delicious

Yudaina - wip

Stacking up the wips. Yudaina again, this time in regal robes. As always based on Sanada-san, 'cause gosh darn it I just can't help lovin' the man.
Oh, and that's face number 21 for the 29 faces. Perhaps I'll manage 29 before Christmas ;-)

Somebody get the compass

Yudaina - wip

The last few weeks I've been winding down in the evenings by playing the Uncharted games. Probably why I had tatty old maps on my mind tonight. So here's a wip of Yudaina consulting a map. Hopefully he doesn't have the same issues with telling left from right as I do.

Did someone say hydromatic?

Kenickie - wip

I can neither confirm nor deny that I may have a bit of a crush on Kenickie ;-) Wip.

Well, it's something...

Yudaina - wip

There is too much going on at the moment, so I'm finding it really difficult to focus on painting. But here's a wip of Yudaina, based on Sanada-san.

Thank you and good night!

Freyndyal - wip

Another one for he 29 faces. Very tired today, so just a rough wip of face number 18. Decided on a bit of elf therapy with Freyndyal - based as always on the lovely Colin Morgan. And now it's bed time :-)

Deklan progress video now on Vimeo

I made a little progress stills video of my painting of Deklan. You can watch it on my Vimeo channel :-)

Hot and bothered

Deklan

I decided to revisit Deklan as I continue working my way through the 29 faces.
He's from a fantasy sci-fi story I started a looong time ago. I feel I should add here that I write purely for therapeutic reasons... should I ever actually finish one of my stories it would be by complete accident ;-)
Deklan is a hyperspace scout and a devoted older brother - yes... I have a thing about older brothers - and through a random combination of incidents, involving a Star Wars 'making-of' clip and the Sting song 'If I ever lose my Faith', he ended up looking like the charming and talented Marc Warren.
As the song goes - 'I could be lost inside their lies without a trace, but every time I close my eyes, I see your face.'
Well, that was the face :-)

Beautiful Villain

Kenji

September may be over and my neck may still be aching but I shall keep going until I have finished the 29 faces. More than half way now with face number 15.
When Hiroyuki Sanada played the role of badass villain Kenji in Rush Hour 3 he portrayed him as such a sympathetically tragic character that I was sitting at the final showdown shouting at the screen 'Why don't you throw Chris Tucker off the Eiffel Tower and let Kenji live? How about that, ey?'
Do I love him, my oh my. River deep, mountain high ;-)

Pain in the neck

Twang

An ode to the horrible pain that has accompanied me for over a week now and frozen up neck and shoulder. Face number 14.

Autumn is here...

Leaves

and the leaves are ready to fall.

I have had a horrible shoulder ache for days now... So bad  I can't sit by the computer for more than a few minutes at a time, so no digital painting. Aaaagony! Instead I have been propped up watching The Mummy with a sketchbook in my lap and ice pack strapped to my back. I managed this... pencil sketch with brushpen for face number 13. I do love brushpens. Yes, I know, it's not digital, it's a messy and wet art utensil... what must I be thinking? Well, I may yet give it the digi treatment once I'm better ;-)

From here to there

I have made a little progress video of the 'Blue' painting.
You can see it on my Vimeo page.

Hey ho, two in a row...

Pink

Blue

Face number 11 and 12. 

The pink one is from yesterday, but I was sooooo tired yesterday, so I didn't get around to posting it. No story behind it, just wanted to paint something before I fell asleep.

The blue one is from tonight. I fancied an elf and also, I found this picture of this really cool ear pendant with a living plant in it on tumblr the other day and wanted to incorporate it into something.

Vincent

Lt. Vincent D'Agosta

There is a gem of a creature flick called 'The Relic' which has one of my most favourite screen detectives in it - the highly superstitious, tough as nails, Lt. Vincent D'Agosta who in the midst of fighting a mutated monster also has time to lament his ex-wife getting custody of their dog. Face number 10.

Face paint

Face Paint

Another face for the 29 faces - number 9. No story behind this... except an urge to do some face paint.

Tapioca Tundra

Sanada-san

'Silhouettes and figures stay close to what he had to say, and one more time the faded dream is saddened by the news, it cannot be a part of me for now it's part of you.'

Not sure what it means but I love it... and I love him :-) face number 8 - Hiroyuki Sanada.

Who needs sleep? I do!

Tirion - wip

Face number 7. Leaving it rough but not ready tonight. I'm just too tired. I got half an hour into this and I actually nodded off, woke with a start and realised I had drawn a great big line right across the face. Oh, history tab in Photoshop how I love you :-)

So, this is Tirion, one of my elves - incidentally from the same story that Tywyll is from. His face is inspired by the almost otherworldly looking Japanese Kyogen stage actor Mansai Nomura. I shall finish this later.

Forty-nine years of awesome

Spock

A few days ago on September 8th it was exactly 49 years ago that Star Trek first aired. I have loved TOS since I first came across it some ten years ago now, and in particular, I have loved the one green-blooded, pointy-eared Vulcan. And although we lost Leonard Nimoy in February this year, I have a feeling that his most famous on-screen persona will live forever :-)
Face number 6 - Mr. Spock.

Oh, fiddle sticks!

Aichel

Another attempt at Aichel - the banjo playing sorcerer. Face number 5 for the 29 Faces. The first hour went just fine... then I thought I'd just allow myself to go a bit over and make a few adjustments... Bad idea - I started to faff again. I think I need to instigate an egg timer to assist with my self discipline.

Ready Freddie

Killer Queen

Face number 4. A belated happy birthday to my most favourite Queen, Freddie Mercury, who could have turned sixty-nine this Saturday just gone. Magnifico-oo-oo-oo!

In the heat of a cold

Burning up

Another Pitt Rivers inspiration for face number 3. This time from an Asian mask that had this really neat pattern on it. I've also managed to catch a horrid cold and my head feels like it's burning up so the hot reds seemed appropriate. And now I must go find my nasal spray.

It's the pitts

Robin

In Oxford there's a museum called Pitt Rivers. It's magical. It has dinosaur skeletons and crystals. A piece of a million year old meteor and all sorts of peculiar things collected from across the globe... including a collection of assorted skulls. I was thinking of Pitt Rivers tonight... so here's a skull for face no. 2... and almost within the 1 hour time frame. I shall combat the faff!

Humble beginnings

Tarkin - wip

The first face for the 29 faces. Far from finished... the idea was bigger than my time limit. That's my challenge for this time around. Only allowing myself an hour on a painting at a time. Not that it has to be finished after an hour... but I must have a break from it and work on something else for an hour. I have become terrible at faffing and once I get stuck on fiddling the strokes tighten up and the painting dies. So this is an attempt to counter act this annoying habit by stopping myself before I have time to get fiddly. I did spend over two hours on this, but it's late and I was fiddling ;-) So I got thinking... even Grand Moff Tarkin may have started out as humble storm trooper.

Teething problems

Esgym - wip

So, there is an idea behind this, but I need to go to bed now.

Invincible

So there's a wonderfully talented artist lady from Poland going by the name of Kyoux that I follow on Deviant Art - check her out, she rocks! She has created a whole bunch of really cool characters that she paints and writes about and has invited anyone who's interested to have a go at making their own interpretation of her characters. Looking through her character bios I had an urge to attempt a blue-eyes, white fringed, goatee'd, drug lord of Japanese descent named Sessue.
So who do you turn to for inspiration when it comes to super-awesome Japanese fellas? Well, for me there's only one choice... one of my all time favourite actors - Hiroyuki Sanada. Because... lets's face it... he's probably one of the coolest people to walk the planet.

Or to put it in the words of OKGO

'When they finally come to destroy the earth
They'll have to deal with you first
Now, my money says they won't know about
The thousand Fahrenheit hot metal lights behind your eyes
Invincible
you're invincible
That crushing, crashing, atom-smashing, white hot thing
It's invincible'

Bring out the bronze

Aichel - wip

Aichel again. Work in progress.

Journey of the sorcerer

Aichel

Here is yet another version of Aichel. Sorcerer, demon charmer, banjo player, hater of broccoli and more often than not too darn handsome for his own good.
This attempt was brought on by watching the breathtakingly handsome Rami Malek as King Ahkmenrah in Night at the Museum.
Enjoy :-)

Going green

Eirian - wip

Another wip. This time it's a more casual King Eirian. It's what I like to call his 'road trip' look. I have so many wip's going at the moment. But hey... at least there's plenty to get on with and finish ;-) The trick is to actually choose one... and then get on with it and finish it.

It's sossery!

Young Gaius - wip

Had an urge to imagine Gaius from Merlin as young sorcerer. I’m a bit stuck with this one at the moment. But I’m ill right now and progress isn’t really happening. Ho hum.

Glow

Eirian - wip

Eirian -  wip

A little wip of elf king Eirian -  based as always on the dashing Bradley James. It’s been a while since I worked on this one… Still nowhere near done. Too much going on right now. But a bit of progress have been made. And I think I’ve finally decided in the robe design

Old Dog

Gerry Standing

Took some time this evening to finish Gerry. Having watched three episodes of New Tricks this afternoon it seemed appropriate :-) Back with my own computer now so I had to tinker a bit with the colours and contrast to get it how I wanted it.

Night Cap

Gerry - wip

... No I'm not referring to alcoholic drinks before bedtime. I'm currently holidaying with my family at my parents' house replete with Photoshop and my travel Bamboo. The ceiling light above the computer in my old room is really rather horrific, however, from a painting point of view. It's right above me, creating a sort of light sheet between my eyes and the computer monitor. And I have discovered the best way to counteract this is to wear a cap, seeing as the shade on the cap breaks up the light. Also, the colour space and accuracy of the monitor is anyone's guess, so apologies if the colours are a bit odd. But I'm not complaining! Merely explaining. After all, I can paint... and that's awesome! :-) So, here's a wip of Gerry from New Tricks... a show which has been going for ten years, but which I only discovered three weeks ago. Go figure ;-)

His Lordship will see you now

Bunter

So... did the butler do it? Well, he certainly does it for me. Ahahaha! I'm allowed to make bad jokes when my tinnitus is driving me mad, which it has been for four days in a row now.
Anyhoo... for those who are unfamiliar with the the early 80ies BBC dramatisation of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries... which I must admit I was until quite recently... this fellow here is Lord Wimsey's multi-talented man servant, Bunter, played by the ridiculously charming Richard Morant. Enjoy.

Beautiful nightmare

Ben

I like writing, always have. Sometimes I have really vivid dreams with plots and characters and I wake up and try to write down as much of it as I can remember. A few years ago now I  had a snippet of a dream... about this guy. I'm guessing I must have been exposed to something Frankenstein's Monster-esque at the time. I don't remember anymore. Long story short, I woke up intrigued... Who was he? What had happened to him? Unfortunately the dream offered up very little in way of answers to these questions. I have been trying to piece his story together ever since. He didn't have a name, so for now I've called him Ben and although his story is still on-going I can promise one thing... he'll get a happy ending :-)
I decided to road test a brush from the 'Ditlev Fine Art' PS brush set which I have had for ages but had yet to use.

Detective Sergeant

DS James Hathaway

It is no secret that I love a good murder mystery, particularly when solved by dynamic duos - such as DI Lewis and his inscrutable sidekick DS Hathaway.

For the past few weeks one of my favourite little exchanges between Lewis and Hathaway has consistently popped into my head. Things are all just a bit like that at the moment.

Lewis: 'You seem awfully chipper this morning, Sergeant.'
Hathaway: 'I'm crying inside sir.'

Lines 'n' Freckles

Freckles

Face number 4 for the 29 faces. For this one I tried out a pencil brush I was kindly given by a super sweet layout artist from Luxembourg. I only ever paint in PS, I don't draw, so I figured now would be a good time to try it. So I drew a sketch, added tone, then colour. It was an interesting experience.

Lady Isrid

Lady Isrid

Face number three for the 29 faces. A little while ago my friend Josephine let me use her as a model for an elf I wanted to paint. Finally got round to doing it.

What makes a girl?

Miss Morgan

When I told my friend who is a huge Merlin fan that I was going to be painting only ladies for a month she looked mightily unimpressed for a few moments and then replied 'You'll just have to do Colin Morgan as a girl then. And somehow I just couldn't the image out of my head. So here is Miss Morgan. Face number two for the 29 faces. And yes, I know it probably looks like a young boy... I'm trying, ok.

Lay lady lay...

Milk

Hey, it's February! And that means it's once again time for the '29 Faces'. My challenge to myself this time to paint... ladies. It has been remarked upon on several occasions that I don't really do that... at all. There's no particular reason for this, I just like painting guys. So, ladies it is this time. With one little loop hole. I have compiled a list of a few special fellas of whom I might throw in a few as the month progresses.
Anyways... here' my first face. I went for a slightly androgynous Tilda Swinton-esque look, just to easy myself into it ;-)

Hey, I'm featured on Cindy William's art blog :-)

Wanna hear a bit about me and my art?

Check out the little feature of me on Cindy William's art blog :-)

Sneaky Peaky

Eirian - wip

Lil’ preview of another Eirian painting. Yeah, I know… it’s all elves at the moment.

And sorry it’s so long between the art posts too. Things are… well… things… at the moment. But as the song goes ‘things can only get better’ ;-)

Golden - progress video

A fast and furious progress stills compilation of my most recent painting 'Golden'.

Golden - Fast and Furious

Golden

Golden

Golden - detail

Eirian the Grass King - lord of Euriad Meysydd.
The king of 'golden fields' dressed according to his title.
Based as always on the ever handsome Bradley James of Merlin fame.

Available as print from my Society6 shop