Marlon Brando, THE GODFATHER

I decided to re-do this caricature from 2009 of Actor Marlon Brando as The Don, Vito Corleone from Mario Puzo's The Godfather saga. Every once in awhile I like to revisit my older pieces to see how much I have improved and also slowly weed out the old pieces from my website. below is the new improved caricature followed by a side by side comparison of the older painting and the photo reference. You can find another side by side comparison of a Clint Eastwood caricature on an earlier post here. Thanks for stopping by, Hope you enjoy it!!!!

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician whose career spans five decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors, and baby dolls, he is considered by fans and peers alike to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock"; Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and macabre brand of rock designed to shock. He also happens to be a born again christian and has confessed this publicly on several occasions, which is why I decided to add the cross to the background. Here is my caricature of alice Cooper, I hope you all like it. Thanks for stopping by, Enjoy!!!!

A Heist Gone Bad

Here is a screen grab of the initial block in of the crew of The Reservoir Dogs. Done in Photoshop CS6. From Left To Right: Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blue, and Mr. Brown. I intend on coloring each panel according to the characters name. Thanks for stopping by, Enjoy!!!!

Monochromatic Study

This is another assignment from Jason Seiler's Caricature course on Schoolism. This time a Monochrome painting study of a model the Jason provided. I guess this guys name is Lupe. At least that's what the file was named. There were other pics, but I just loved this guys face. Great shapes and details to play off of. Below is the sketch done with red prismacolor col-erase pencil and then scanned in a painted in Photoshop. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy!!!!

Morgan Freeman WIP

This one is almost done. All details and minor adjustments from here on out.

Forest Whitaker

From wikipedia: Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an African-American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television series, The Shield. Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker has also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. This caricature was done after watching Jason Sieler's lecture on coloring a portrait using a split - complimentary color pallet. I been wanting to paint this mug for awhile now. Done mostly in Corel Painter 12 as an excuse to experiment further with the new real bristle brushes. I also posted the ref pic:) Thanks for stopping by, Enjoy!!!

Forest Whitaker W.I.P.

Here's a quick screen grab of a Forest Whitaker caricature I'm working on. Done in Corel Painter 12. I really love all of the brushes in this version. I spend a lot of time playing around with all the brush variants and settings to see what they all can do today. I'll post the finished piece soon.

Jason Seiler's Caricature Course

So as I mentioned in the last post, I started Jason Seiler's 9 week caricature course at the schoolism site. You can check it out here: http://schoolism.com/?share=r0qv2 I'm having a great time already. If you have been to my site or this blog in the past , then you know I have a passion for drawing caricatures of celebrities. I have been wanting to take Jason's course for awhile now, and since I just wrapped up Anthony Jones's creature design course, I thought now is as good a time as any, plus they are currently having a fall sale on classes, which is a plus. In my opinion, Jason is one of the best in the business when it comes to this topic and I am super excited to learn his techniques. These are a few of sketches I did for the first assignment. Jason supplied a few pics of citizens for you to sketch and a couple of pics of actor Tom Hanks. So for the first assignment, I did a few rough sketches of the citizens and a slightly tighter sketch of Tom Hanks. Then for fun I decided to do a quick color block in of Tom Hanks that I may use as a guide for a finished piece. Tom Hanks is one of my wife's favorite actors, so I may just go ahead and finish that up soon for my portfolio. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!!!

Alex In Wonderland?

Here is an illustration I did using an abstract ink blot thumbnail as a jump off point. The ink blots just looked like mushrooms to me, so I thought why not do a cool version of Absalom with a gas mask hookah and a Steam punk garbed character that's obviously a long way from home. And while we are on the subject of Alice In Wonderland... I finally finished the Johnny Depp/ Tim Burton caricature I was working on. I can't even count how many projects these two have done together. I love their collaborations. I wonder if Tim gets jealous when Gore Verbinski uses Depp in his films:) Next up is a W.I.P. of another assignment for Anthony Jones's creature course. Followed by some random doodles. enjoy:)

Some More Progress

I got to do a little more on the Johhny Depp and Tim Burton caricature today. It's starting to head in the direction that I want now. I'll continue to push and pull when I have time, For now enjoy another progress shot:)

Seth And Richard Gecko

Seth: "And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is f@%#ing vampires!" Here is a caricature of Bank Robbers turned Vampire Slayers, Seth and Richard Gecko. Played by George Clooney and director Quentin Tarantino In "From Dusk Till Dawn" , A 1996 horror crime action thriller film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film also stars Selma Hayek, Harvey Keitel, Danny Trejo, Michael Parks, Cheech Marin and Juliette Lewis. It quickly became a cult favorite soon after it's release.

Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega

"Whether or not what we experienced was an 'According to Hoyle' miracle is insignificant. What is significant is that I felt the touch of God. God got involved".-Jules Winnfield Actor John Travolta as Vincent Vega and Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece, Pulp Fiction. Done in Corel Painter 12 The super quick and dirty sketch and block in. The ref pic from a movie still and some cool Pulp Fiction collectibles.

Wyatt Earp

Another Kurt Russell caricature, this time Lawman, Wyatt Earp from the movie Tombstone. I wanted a slight different look for this one so I did it in Corel Painter 12 using a brush set from artist Don Seegmiller. Below is the caricature followed by a screen grab of the initial sketch / block in. Kind of more of a cartoon style.

Kurt Russell

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American television and film actor. Russell was cast in several films by director John Carpenter, including anti-hero roles such as former army hero-turned robber Snake Plissken in the futuristic action film Escape from New York, Antarctic helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady in the horror film The Thing (1982), and truck driver Jack Burton in the dark kung-fu comedy/action film Big Trouble in Little China (1986), all of which have since become cult films. My favorite Kurt Russell performances were his role as law man Wyatt Earp in the movie Tombstone and Jack Burton in Big Trouble In Little China. The caricature below is Russell as Jack Burton. I will have to do a Wyatt Earp sometime soon. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the film Big trouble In Little China: "I'm a reasonable guy. But, I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." "Ol' Jack always says... what the hell?" "When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail." "Like I told my last wife, I says, "Honey, I never drive faster than I can see. Besides that, it's all in the reflexes." "Well, ya see, I'm not saying that I've been everywhere and I've done everything, but I do know it's a pretty amazing planet we live on here, and a man would have to be some kind of FOOL to think we're alone in THIS universe." "This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there." "Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it."

Kurt Russell studies

These are some quick paint sketch studies of Kurt Russell from Big Trouble In little China. I did a few studies of other characters in the film as well, and some studies from film stills of another film he starred in, Tombstone. I'll share all those soon.

The Fighter

Christian Bale first caught the public eye at the age of 13, when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). He played an English boy who is separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself lost in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. He is also notable for his role as serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000), and for portraying Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and the upcoming finale The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

In 2010, Bale portrayed Dicky Eklund in the biopic The Fighter. He received critical acclaim for his role and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.
About five minutes into seeing the film The Fighter, I looked at my wife and said, He better get an award for supporting actor for this. He nailed the role of Dicky in my opinion, who I met personally as a young boxer.

Christian Bale in The Fighter

These are some quick and dirty studies of actor Christian Bale playing ex boxer Dicky Ecklund, brother of boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward. I was able to work on all 4 versions simultaneously to get these sketches done rather quickly. I think I may take the one on the upper right to completion. I also like the one on the bottom left.

DARTH LUCAS DA WISE

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. In addition, he established his own effects company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), to make the original Star Wars film. The company is now one of the most successful in the industry. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. He has inspired generations of artist of all genres, including myself.
Here I envision Lucas as a Sith. Perhaps he is using his "Dark Force" power to make sure you go see his films no matter how many versions are released. lol

Tommy Lee Jones Progress shots

Here are some progress shots of my Tommy Lee Jones caricature. The finished piece will be posted soon:)

Christopher Walken final

He's got a fever, and the only prescription is, More Cow Bell.

Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can, Pulp Fiction, Wedding Crashers, The Rundown, Click, and Hairspray as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna, Journey, Run DMC, The Left Rights and Fatboy Slim.

Walken's films have grossed more than $1.8 billion in the United States. He has also played the main role in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Coriolanus. He is also a popular guest-host of Saturday Night Live, having hosted 7 times as of April 2008. His most notable roles on the show include record producer Bruce Dickinson (no relation to the singer with the same name) in the "More Cowbell" sketch and his multiple appearances as The Continental.