I've felt I've been in a kind of artistic funk lately. I haven't wanted to draw...no, that's not right, I've WANTED to draw but don't know what I should draw. Sure, I could start back up with the comic, but I'm not in the mood. I'm more in a portrait mood. So, when all else fails, do a self portrait. The top one I did tonight. The bottom I did a couple days ago and forgot to post here. A friend of mine on FB really liked the bright one I did a couple weeks ago, so why not try to appease SOMEONE that actually likes the work? Besides, self portraits allow me to have some fun. So, these. And I like them for different reasons.

 So I redid the whole thing. I wasn't really fully happy with the old one and decided to something a good deal more rough, expressly chunkier, less fussy. It's still not my favorite mostly as the reference photo just has a slightly weird expression. Thing is, it does look like him. I just wish he were in the middle of something as Dan was when I did his. At some point, I'll get a better photo. I like it better than the first one I did of Max, more then ten years ago. That, too was a terrible photo. So, I guess a poor craftsman blames his tools, etc. Whatever. But now I lay this one to rest so I can get back to that other thing I'm supposed to be working on.

And...Max didn't see himself in it at all. Well, won't be posting this one. I didn't think it was bad, but when the subject can't see himself, well, that's not a good sign. It is what it is. I move on.

 I played around with that sketch a lot. And my initial feelings were that this wasn't going to work. To be fair, it's really hard to get a photo of Max where he looks decent AND he doesn't know. Like me, he hates photos of himself. I closed AD and wondered if I'd even come back to it. Then, later, I went in, turned some layers off, recolored some and...am liking it better. It's all Rembrandt browns which will have to be adjusted to give some more contrast but...I think it looks a good deal better than it did. Not finished at all. We'll see.

 Still dragging my feet on that landscape. Instead, I'm working on a portrait of my bestie, Max. Did a quick sketch start tonight. It's not the best photo of him but he's really hard to get photos of as he hates them nearly as much as I do. This is him in his natural habitat; watching movies.

 And the winner is... by an overwhelming majority, the one I like least is the winner. People liked the muted color palette better. My partner said that it helped imply her personality better and that the one I liked, greens and yellows felt too 'poppy,' which is funny as the palette came from a Van Gogh painting. This was a good experiment if only to try and learn how others see work. I suppose, as an artist, I should stand by my choices, which I have on flickr. In this case, I'm happy enough to have the engagement. I pulled a bunch of people who wouldn't otherwise comment on my work out and that's something.

 Three Judis. I did some tweaking on a couple of the layers and some of the colors. I showed them to my partner who likes the top version better. I prefer the second version, based on a portrait of Roulin, I believe. The third I made today and is from a palette made from another, much toned down Van Gogh portrait. It might be a compromise between the top two in that it has some more color but isn't as bright as the middle one. I could play this game forever, and it IS fun but it's not getting me anywhere. I think that I'm going to toss them all up and ask for opinions. At the very least, it gets me to play with colors and look  at them in a new way, which is always a good thing. Otherwise, it's done. Thanks, Miss Dench, not that you'll ever know.

 Managed to sneak in two color tests on this one. The top one is based on a color palette from a Van Gogh portrait, with some tweaking. The lower one is based on, believe it or not, "Blue Boy," by Gainsborough, again with some tweaking. I prefer the Van Gogh, my partner prefers the Gainsborough. One thing I notice is that the details of her face seem too smooth. Might have to play with those a bit. But I like the portrait so far, especially the elongated composition.

 Started a new portrait today. This time. it's Dame Judi. She was the subject of an All Star episode of Portrait Artist of the Year. I took a few screen grabs and decided to take a poke at it. I got to the black and white stage today. It's coming along. Used the grid as normal and a bit of tracing for some things I just couldn't zoom in enough for.

 This one goes back awhile. I did a few tiny touchups tonight and decided that it was done. Threw it into AD, used the Rembrandt palette, which I am in love with, and called this one done. It's British comedian, Johnny Vegas. I don't think it's my favorite portrait, but I think it's solid and nicely loose.

 While procrastinating, I threw together the first self portrait of the new year. Back to some wilder colors. Different brush and feel for the line work, though, so there's something new. I think I've drawn myself this color before.

 I had a goal today of doing the bricks, the chairs and tables. And I did get the marks done for that. The colors are not final by any means and I can see already that there's going to have to be some warmth added before I'm done, and that's fine. So far, I do like how the sense of space is coming along. I threw in the building and sky from the previous version. I don't know that the windows will make the cut as I think the details are too fine if I'm going to go for some depth. Still, progress even if it looks like a mess so far.

 Progress though it might not seem a lot. Turns out there are a LOT of those damned chairs in the photo. So I spent a couple albums sketching most of them in. But I need a break. Might get back to this today, might not. These bigger, more complex images often just suck the juice right out of me which is why they take so long and I do so few. Still, movement.

 This won't look like progress but it is. I restarted the Harvard Square image because I really wanted the bricks to be separate all the way around for that organic feel. So here we are. I have to treat fore, mid and backgrounds separately or I will never get this thing done. Will work on the chairs and tables next. This is going to take awhile...

 First design of the year, sure to cause a slew of arguments on social media! Or go totally unnoticed. I've been wanting to throw this together as a kind of badge to show that my art accounts do not use AI of any kind. I based it on the Fite Comics logo. Anyone can use it if they want. It's not some amazing design or anything but does its job.