Silence, on tourne!

This is a bit of a departure from usual subjects in that up to now, I've only drawn portraits of friends or for friends. This drawing however is of the talented French singer-performer Charlotte Marin, whose star is on the rise and who's been gracious enough to allow me to post it here (the drawing, not the star). You can go here if you want to know more about her. Please do. :-)

Modern Mona Lisa

The title may sound a bit preposterous, but for some reason, there's something about this drawing that makes me think about Da Vinci's masterpiece. Not because it's anywhere near that good of course, I'm not that deluded. Anyway, it needed a name and that's the one that came to me, so let's move on. It's the first (completed) drawing in a while and it didn't quite manage to do justice to the model, but then I find they rarely do. I still find dark hair difficult to do, it always seems to end up as a greyish mass, though this time it seems to be better. The lighter section towards the top isn't quite as light in real life, part of it is a trick played by the work-scanner I used. At least it's pretty, and that's always a good thing. :-)

The Trainee

Patricia wasn't with us for long (one month actually), but that left more than enough time to complete a portrait. I think I should have made the hair a bit longer on the bottom left side of the drawing, but other than that, I think it is quite allright.

Mélusine

Done as a gift for a friend's friend, this establishes my position as baby-artist. No real new challenges here, but sometimes that's nice too. Mélusine is this little girl's name. I'm sure it means she's destined to do great things. :-)

Hail to the King

It's been a while since the last update. Well, more than a while, though I have a few updates planned now. This one was actually finished several months ago, but didn't make it up here until now because it was classified "top secret". It has now been published in the firm's legal review, a special edition dedicated to special member of our team, so I'm free to put it up here. I figured for once I'd do something a little less "dry" than the usual legal commentaries and I hope this portrait will manage to catch it's subject's true spirit.

The early years

Recently, when one of our coworkers' (that's you, Nicole V.) granddaughter was born, there was some pondering about what to do for a gift and it was then suggested that it would be really nice if I were to draw the baby's portrait. I did not fail to notice the motherload of the 'common' effort was resting on my shoulders, but what the heck. Results were satisfactory, although you won't really see it here, as due to lack of time, I had to make this scan on the work-scanner, which failed to pick up the shading of the clothes. The face and hand came out well though. On to the next!

Pimp My Charles

You'll have to click on the image for a closer look if you want to be able to see anything on this one. I have to warn you, the likeness isn't all that great. The expression is not a very easily recognisable one and I made it more difficult by hiding a lot of the face and head with the shades and hat. Still, faced with the choice of pressing ahead or deciding to 'bin' it and start something else, I opted to complete it since the fur texture was something I hadn't done before and it came out relatively well. This being said, if I never have to do it again, that will be fine by me...

Behind blue eyes...

Some of you may have noticed a certain repetitiveness in models lately. I must plead guilty as charged, though, in this case, it is purely due to circumstance. This portrait was expressly commissioned as a birthday present for the person who made the original. No, not the photographer, her mother! Anyway, I think this one's going to be the "definitive" portrait of Inge for now (and about time too, after all the past attempts). Almost a shame I can't keep it. Cross your fingers her mum will be pleased as well...

Le Cor(ps) de Kat

A return to a familiar model with lots of new challenges. This subject has lots of different textures and overall, I'm happy with the way most of them turned out, except that the horn itself is a bit too dark in places. On the other hand, the reflection of the room and the texture of the jeans are quite satisfactory. This preview picture is quite small, so I urge you to click on it to take you to a larger image. Alternative titels were "De Gehoornde Kat" and "Horny Kat", the latter probably putting my life at risk, so the wordplay on cor(ps) seemed like a safer bet. Of course, after writing this, all bets are off...

Black Mamba

This one's a reinterpretation of an actual picture: the girl, pose and knife were all there, but since some parts of it were out of focus, I ended up making a few modifications, starting with black gloves, which in turn lead to an all black suit (black! black!). I rather like "the comic book art" feel of this one. Other titles that were considered included "Nightstalker", "Lady Death" and (briefly) "The Princess Blade" (all based on movies/manga). The model's love-hate relation with snakes (or should that be fascination-terror) won out in the end though. Once again, beauty and danger make a lethal combination.