Stephen Hawking

After John Paul Jones came out so well a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to have another go at drawing a portrait with markers by concentrating on shadow and value patterns rather than on facial features.  I found a black and white portrait often late Stephen Hawking that I thought might make a good subject.

So I started this all off with neutral colours and came up with a black and white portrait.  Looking at that,  I thought it needed a bit of colour but not excessive amounts.  So I added in some flesh tones, blue on the clothes and green on the cushion.  I also added some stars to the sky using a white gel pen.

The drawing was instantly recognisable as Hawking (and still is) but something wasn’t quite right.  I thought it that his left jowl was a bit too baggy, so I went over part of it with a black marker and incorporated the black into the shadow on the cushion. The neutral colours do make him look pretty ill but there’s life and intelligence in those eyes.  It’s a tough decision but Professor Hawking’s not going in the shop window.

Did I ever tell you I queued up behind Stephen Hawking at a cash point once?  Barclays in Market Hill, Cambridge.  It’s a clothes shop now.