Alan Moore - The Watchman

After mentioning I was keen to paint Alan Moore a friend mentioned that he would be good enough to get a copy over to him... Although I was initially stunned the opportunity was too good to pass up on. What a face to draw! If Alan was to see it I had to get this one right. I decided to keep this one a monotone affair to keep the look moody & menacing.

A couple of weeks passed before a signed copy arrived on the door mat, this I was not expecting (especially as I had been pre-warned "that Alan does not just sign anything"

Apparently he loved it. It now has pride of place in my front room and has become one of my most treasured possessions

Alan Partridge - 'Kiss my face'

After seeing Mid Morning Matters I thought it was about time I painted Steve Coogan. I've been a fan  for many years (although previous sketches didn't have the right feel) as I wanted to the capture characters smugness, which resulted in a more 'cartoony' look than my usual style.
As usual comments are welcome

(I did also receive this from one of the shows creators Armando Ianucci)

Psychoville

A new portrait, this time its serial strangler David Sowerbutts (played by Steve Pemberton) from the excellent Psychoville, which returns to your telly box later this year

Sowerbutts 

WIP stages from sketch to final piece...

I was also over the moon to get some feed back from the programmes co-creator and star Reece Shearsmith

(Oh, and heres a link to explain the badge) Superman!

Hope you like it, comments & feedback welcome!

Matt King also got in touch, you may recognise him from 'Bronson', although he is perhaps best known for playing Super Hans in Peep show.

Dog House Music

After re-visiting his albums recently and loving 'the three string trance blues' I couldn't help but want to sketch this guy. Still lots to do, but trying my best to keep it loose, hope you like.

Update: I should also mention that I managed to meet Steve at Glastonbury and show him my portrait & my Johnny Cast one too.

"She-it maan, you a legend, you a BOSS"

A Quick Sketch

After deciding I was spending too long on recent pieces I thought it best to get back to some sketching, so I tried my best not to think too much and knock this up pretty quick.

Anyway, thoughts as always are welcome, click for a larger view... Hope you like it.

I was VERY pleased to see that Reece Shearsmith of The League Of Gentlemen & Psychoville approved of my efforts, as a result Psychoville may well be the subject of my next painting?

Alabama 3

A big favourite of mine for many years are the Brixton collective Alabama 3.

Although best know for the Soprano's sound track they have an incredible back catalogue and are easily one of the best live bands in the country.

Click here to join the congregation

Praise be!

I decided to begin with the bands frontman Larry Love before starting on Rev D.Wayne Love

Thanks to Chris Sharpe for the cracking reference pic

 

Minister of the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine (UK)

Jake Black AKA The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love

Chris Morris

"Anyone for Cake?"

A work in progress snippet here of Chris Morris.
I've really taken my time with this one, mainly because I have been a fan of all his work for years and just wanted to do him justice. This has proved pretty difficult, Chris is incredibly illusive and notoriously camera shy, as a result sourcing reference pics has been the main bug bear of this project.

Consequently I have had to work from screen shots, along with some more recent shots of him,
also having to don a suit an pose for my own reference.
I decided to base the peice on the Drugs episode of the acclaimed series Brass Eye, in which
(for those who havn't seen it) Morris lampoons the media's take on drugs in society.
Above is a little tease of the work so far... although it should be finished very soon, all being well the next couple of days...

Robert De Niro Sketch

What's right is right

Tried something different with this one, did my best to keep it loose (which is difficult for me) Will revisit this at a later date, but in the mean time...

"you talkin' to me?!"

Ricky Gervais

Been meaning to get round to do Ricky & his fangs for a while now. Tried hard to push the realism & detail in this, think its about finished (although, as usual I'll probably re visit it for further tweaks)
As usual thoughts are welcome.

Mick Jagger

I finally managed to get this finished!

Usual rules apply, comments welcome & click the image for a larger view. Hope you like it....

The Thick Of It

A new portrait, this time of The Thick Of It's (BAFTA winning) all swearing eye Malcolm Tucker who is superbly played by Peter Capaldi. (If your not aware of this series you really ought to be) if easily offended, do not click this!

I was very pleased that the shows Nicola Murray MP (Rebecca Front) approved of my efforts, I've loved her work for years, so was over the moon to receive such praise.

Rufus Hound also got in touch after seeing this blog, he's obviously a fan of the show too...

I may well paint him in the near future.

I even managed to get get this to the great man himself, upon which I presented him with a copy before he signed this for me (see the pic below). He seemed very pleased with it an very keen to find out who produced it.
Tucker Rules! 

'Malcolm f*cking Tucker Rules'

To Jamie All the very best Peter Capaldi

JR Cash - The mud, the blood & the beer

Something else from a couple of months ago.
"Hello I'm Johnny Cash"

Bruce Campbell - 'Groovy'

I did this some time ago now... I still want to produce a younger version with Bruce playing the long suffering Ash (from The Evil Dead & Army Of Darkness) I'm particularly pleased with the hair but still not sure I nailed the likeness (the reference is from a pretty recent pic, hence the extra weight and grey hair) or as Bruce said "Ash the aged". 

Managed to get some further feed back from Bruce last week, he seems to like it
"Hail to the King, baby"

Keith Richards

Another portrait, this time its the walnut faced guitar legend (and personal hero of mine) Keith Richards. Originally I had inteded this to be a monochrome affair, however I eventually decided to throw a little colour at him... as always thoughts are welcome.

Happy Mondays

Heres a quick sketch I did recently of Shaun & Bez from the Happy Mondays. Had a lot of fun with this one and as a result I'm gonna be doing a lot more quick studies/sketches...