The earlier selfie was a decent image but didn't look that much like me, just as Vince said. :"D I decided to rework it. While I used the same photo for reference, in the first version, I used a quick trick which usually helps me get a likeness; I take 30 seconds to very roughly outline the head and make notches where the eyes, nose and mouth are. I then complete the image freehand. For some reason, it didn't work so well. This time, I did the entire thing freehand and I got a better likeness, which is weird. Maybe I should trust my eye more than I do. I then purposefully distorted the image to emphasize the expression. I think it -just- borders on caricature but not so much that it would dismiss the image. Having recently had a print made at 16x20 of the Weezil's portrait, I can say that this is a very viable workflow. The giclee prints look great, organic and even a bit like paint.

I also recently finished watching all of the "Portrait Artist of the Year" shows and am already missing seeing all those folks paint. What a great and inspiring show. I only wish the British channel that made them, Sky, would actually SELL them so people like myself might get a better chance of catching them.

There are some books I own that I've forgotten because I can't easily get to them. And there are some books that have had a huge influence on me. This one is both of those things. I can't remember where I got this; some used book store somewhere. It's almost entirely black and white, dates from 1949 but has some amazing art in it. The sense of layout and design feels like what we think of as being 1950s but this is the end of the 40s which means it's not experimental; it's already accepted and worked through. The influence from fine art is obvious but so is cartooning and back and forth and back again. I have no idea if they still make these things or even if they're worth looking at. This one is all I need as it speaks to me. It's that movie that's nearly perfect and doesn't need a sequel. Then again, I might be missing out on all sorts of stuff. For now, this is it.

Oh yah, also did this one yesterday. Portraits. Self. Me.

Been binge-watching a British show called "Portrait Artist of the Year," which is a tv show made especially for me. Don't know how I've not heard of this but then again, British TV has done this before and they don't make their shows available outside the UK on any format which is maddening to say the least. Each week, they take 9-21 (depending on the season) portrait artists, split them between three different sitters and have them paint portraits in four hours which is a reasonable amount of time to get something pretty damned good. And this isn't amateur trash, this is real stuff. The winner gets a 10k commission for a portrait of someone famous that will be hung in a permanent collection in a major institution, like the Scottish Portrait Gallery. So yah, my head's been back in portraits, which I do love. This is my buddy the Weezil, who I've painted before but whom I've never really managed to capture all that well. This one is a good step closer. I was also smart enough to make it big enough to print out. The Weez, who didn't know I'd snapped the photo awhile back when we were out at karaoke, was happy with it, which makes it all the better.

A quick work demo using an old sketch. Tried to take a different approach, not using inked lines at all. Was pretty pleased with the results, so took it home.

This is as raw as I get. Did this comic today after feeling shitty for a couple. I just sat, drew a panel, added a layer, drew another panel. I didn't hide anything, didn't cross anything out, didn't ink, no editing, nothing. And I toyed with actually posting it. And then I did. On Facebook and tumblr. I got one response on FB. That's it. And here I thought I was dropping a bomb that might upset people. Strangely, I'm ok with it now though it still bugs me that only one person bothered to even read the comic. The worst were the little thumbs up symbols which meant that someone just clicked it without even looking. Well, I can't be more plain than this.