The Man That Mildred Married

As usual I put down a pencil outline using a grid, then put some colour in the eyes, nostrils and mouth.  And then I just enjoyed myself, putting in the face whatever colours either felt right or that I could see in the source photo, occasionally adding white to lighten things and eventually stopping when the paper couldn’t take any more colour.  Then I added some quite simple clothes and background.  And that was me done.

But things went strangely.  Early on this looked like Brian but the longer I went on, the more heroic he started to look.  And the more I tried to bring back Brian’s likeness, the more he started looking like Paul Newman.  Or is it James Coburn in Pat Garret And Billy The Kid?

This looks good despite there not being a likeness of my intended subject. It looks like a human being with a personality.  And despite me using all sorts of weird colours, I’ve ended up with what looks like flesh tones.  Oh, and I like the shirt and the background wall and doorknob.  This one was in the shop window for a while but I’ve taken it down now: I can’t get over how this looks nothing like Brian.