The Strangest Man

I’ve been reading The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo, the biography of mathematical physicist Paul Dirac, someone I’ve painted before. Looking at some of the photos and thinking about Mr Dirac’s huge brain, I found myself thinking about The Leader, a character from Marvel Comics and wondering whether he was based on Mr Dirac. He’s a janitor who gets exposed to gamma radiation, turns green and turns into a genius, with his brain growing so big that he ends up with a very tall forehead. I’ve never read a comic with The Leader in it but have come across him as the final boss in the Incredible Hulk game on the Sega Megadrive.

After reading the book, I wanted to have another go at painting Paul Dirac and couldn’t resist giving him that Leader look by extending his forehead and giving him green hints by using the Shire colours. This is a posterised painting, following my usual process. One thing worth mentioning is that this process is starting to mature: while I put down outlines for the first two layers, I’m finding myself painting on the third layer freehand more and more often. I sprinkled salt over the first and second layers when I thought they were almost dry but it didn’t seem to have any effect until very late on, after I’d painted in the third layer, which was weird.

I didn’t do any tinkering with this one after removing the making fluid. It was tempting to reduce the size of the big white shape by adding some yellow down the right side of Mr Dirac’s forehead but I thought this would ruin the three layer effect. Or that I’d get the consistency wrong and have another Michael Portillo’s nose on my hands.

I do like how this one ended up. There’s an intensity in the gaze that complements the Leader look and tells us that this is one of the most intelligent men in history. The background is good too: I like how I can still distinguish between the green, olive and yellow in the first layer underneath the Shire blue in the second. There’s also some granulation going on, and some weird salty fuzziness that’s blending Mr Dirac’s left shoulder into the background. This one’s up for sale, with the price to be found here.

So, Portrait Artist Of The Year judges, interested?