Portrait: Inspired by the RWC

Hi,

Lately I have spending as much time as possible in front of the tele watching rugby games.. Go the Wallabies.  For those that don't know, the Rugby World Cup is being played out in New Zealand as I type.  We have finished the pools and Australia are through to the quarter finals where they will meet the mighty Springboks.. It will be quite a challenge to beat them and progress to the semis where we would probaly meet the All Blacks..It will be a tough road to the final, but hey, nothing great comes easy does it.

So the RWC has inspired me to paint some more.. I have decide to do a series on "champions" and decided to start with our very own Rocky Elsom, past captain of the Wallabies, who just happens to be the brother of my next door neighbour Sam.

Seeing Rocky is in New Zealand with the squad, I didn't have access to a live sit, so I have had to do this one from a photo... Fortunately there are plenty of photos of Rocky on the web to choose from so not so difficult after all.

I also decided to take as many photos "in progress" as I could.  I might post them on my website, but I will definately post them here...

Firstly, I decided on a limited pallete of Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red Deep, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue... From these I should be able to mix any color I like (black is equal proportions of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue for those who want to try it... It makes a really warm black.. You can cool it down by just adding some more blue.)

Here is my pallette

I just take a mixing knife and spread some colour to match possible skin tones into a pool in the middle. The dark blob on the right is my made up black.

OK... sketch him in using some raw umber (thats the little blob between the red and the sienna. I just use this for the sketch and the backbround, not Rocky himself.

Step 1:

Start with the darks and work up to the highlights... I won't add commentary unless there is something special I want to say about the step.

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:



 Step 6:

That right eye looks a bit wonky.. I'll have to fix that.. and the arms look a bit wrong, so i'll have to have a look at them as well.... But thats it for today.. running out of time, so I'll work on it this week.

Take care

Pete

P.S.  comments always welcome.