I recently read this article by Damon Poeter about Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, who was apparently THE scourge and scoundrel of the Australian frontier. Through the magic of DNA matching scientists believe they have identified the remains of said outlaw in a mass prison grave in Melbourne, originally buried 131 years ago! Kelly's skeleton is intact save for his skull which is still missing and believed to have been taken as a trophy by an Aussie Police Officer when the bones were originally moved to their would-be final resting place.
I saw the picture in the article and thought "Wow! What a dapper looking fellow with a scraggly beard!" and I knew I was going to draw him. True story.
3 comments:
All Aussies know about him. He's kind of a national folk hero for having gone against the government back in the old days. He's most famous for having worn this helmet:
http://nationaltreasures.nla.gov.au/%3E/Treasures/item/nla.int-ex13-s2
Oh man, I feel bad for saying this when it's not a typo that can be corrected, but the correct spelling is Kelly.
Also, it's true that generally speaking he was a folk hero, but white Australian history is still pretty young and he's not so popular everywhere - I grew up in the town where the policemen he shot were from, so there was a huge monument in the centre of town, and descendents living there, and generally less of a jocular acceptance of him as folk hero.
But there are some magnificent, twee tourist markers around. My favourite is probably the Big Ned in Glenrowan: http://www.nedkellysworld.com.au/glenrowan/glenhistorical.htm
The drawing is fantastic, though. He does have a very striking face, and you've captured it perfectly :)
- an Australian sitting across the office from a heumann
Thanks! I don't know how I got that spelling wrong, but there's not much I can do about it now.
That helmet is intense! Great, now I have to do another drawing of him.
I apologize in advance for all the typos in the coming days.
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