Striking Bearded Man

I have an amazing cabinet card that I've been trying to do justice to in graphite, but I just can't seem to do it. Inspired by the style in yesterday's post I tried to draw this guy the same way. I think I came close in the second one, but it's still too realistic, and a tad too cartoony, which I realize are conflicting statements.

Attempt #1


Attempt #2


I'm glad that I made it up to 144 posts this year, as the square root of 144 is 12 and there are 12 months in the year. There's a quiet harmony to that that I find pleasing. Anyhow, hope everyone has a good new year's eve tonight!

A Doodle Reworked

I liked the Karaoke Napkin Doodle I did the other week of my friend Jesse, and I wanted to rework it into a real drawing. I'm even happier with results and want to explore doing more portraits in this style.

Tom at Tom's House

Messing around with blind contour portraits. Tom at Tom's house on craft night.

Hipprospector

I've been mining for character ideas lately and this is the hippest I could come up with. What do you think, is it a golden nugget or am I way out west with this one?

Ned Kelly : The Bold and the Beautiful

Now this is much closer to what I was actually going for with this portrait. Simple. Bold. Quick. The only problem is I think the likeness isn't as good as the previous pen portrait. Also, he looks sad. I guess if my bones were being dug up and put on display nationally I'd be a little sad too.

Read the inspirational article HERE.

Ned Kelly : One Sketchy Fellow

The original sketch I did of Australia's premier outlaw with a dull pencil before moving on to pen. It wasn't quite what I wanted it to be.

"Bone to Pick" starring Ned Kelly

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.

Just Imagine the Glasses He Would Wear

I 'm really excited about this drawing because it marks a new kind of augmented reality portrait for me (not to be confused with the scary high-tech augmented reality). I'm still working on animal portraits, but I'd love to be able to do some more of these in the future.

O' Captain, My Captain

While researching online for a reference photo of a pipe I stumbled upon this little gem and saved it to draw later. I don't know who this guy is, or how is beard got so bushy, or why he's comically shifty eyed, but dear god I'm thankful for all those things. When I'm old I'm going to dress like a Sea Captain all the time.

Brown marker on red construction paper.

Red

He's not a pirate, but that is one red beard.