Matt “Guitar Murphy” – Second Attempt

I wan’t happy with my first go at Matt Murphy a couple of days ago. His right hand and left eye were all wrong and his face was looking too spotty. So I had a second go today. I went for a closer in view, eliminating the troublesome hand and giving me the opportunity to add more detail to the eye.

And, you know what? This is worse. That left eye is still problematic and, despite loads of tinkering, gradually adding more and more shadow to the face, I never got close to a likeness. So this one won’t be making it into the final collection. I’ve gone back to the first version and tried to hide some of the spots in the face with white gouache. It’s still not perfect but it’s better than this one.

I’ll see how the full set looks before deciding whether to have a third attempt at Matt. But with only three pages left in my pad for three portraits, it may be OCD and the need to have all ten portraits in the same book that has the final say.

Yeah, this one’s didn’t make it into the final collection.