Portrait of Sherlock Holmes

*****************************
Sale Note: This painting is available for purchase as a limited edition 11x14" print, reproduced spectacularly by professional fine arts print masters on Fujicolor Archive Crystal paper, guaranteed for 100+ years, and also covered by my personal lifetime guarantee. Please note me or comment to inquire about purchase details.

*****************************

Distribution/Reuse Note: This can NOT be used as a stock image. You cannot use any part of this image as part of other graphical works, websites, or anywhere else without permission. All rights reserved.

Please do not repost this image anywhere. Please use the link below for Tumblr Reblogs:

Reblog on Tumblr: [link]

*****************************

There's not much in the way of explanatory details for this painting. I started painting because I was reconfiguring my Photoshop brushes, and then just ran with it. It is totally painted from scratch. It is not straightforward with reference photos: I used about three separate shots of Robert Downey Jr., including set stills, and none of them had him holding a pipe.

I don't really want to say whose hand I used as a reference for the hand. I kind of want to forget I used such a detestable person's hand as reference. But the photo worked in terms of lighting and gesture, with minimal guesswork. Painting the hand took as long as the face, and it doesn't show.

Painting the hair was...tedious. I say this every time: I hate painting hair, but I rather like how this one came out. Thank God he doesn't have long hair. My hand still cramps up just thinking about "Luna and the Squid."

Then I went on my stock photo references sites, and looked at lots of photos of pipes. I know the pipe used in the movie is a straight pipe, which is more authentic to the theater adaptations of the stories (because the curved pipe gets in the way of the actor's mouth). However, after trying a bunch of different pipes, different sizes, etc., I settled with the curved pipe, because it worked better with my composition. The pipe really took a LOT of painting. God, I forgot how much I hate painting 1) round objects, and 2) shiny objects.

And voila! Sherlock Holmes looking questionable, confused, diagnosing, reasoning, somewhat worried, but confident. Although Robert Downey Jr. does not look anywhere CLOSE to the Holmes in my head (the Holmes that is honed by all of the Sir Conan Doyle stories, the biography of Sherlock Holmes by William Baring-Gould, Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven Percent Solution," and Laurie R. King's "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" and all of its sequels), I am confident that Robert Downey Jr. will give a terrific and authentic performance, albeit a different interpretation.

Now, it is 12:03 a.m. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all have a fabulous and wonderful day. And go see "Sherlock Holmes," in theaters Christmas Day! (and Boxing Day in the UK).

*****************************