Portrait 4: Update

Can't really take any credit for this one, it pretty much painted itself in the space of a single evening. He's turned out looking like a hitman, and those tiny round specs are just plain evil, but i think somewhere in that painting, there is definitely a tiny piece of Scotty Nguyen...

Portrait 5: Joe Beevers

Another sneaky peek...

Portrait 4: Scotty Nguyen

Sneak preview...

Portrait 2: Update

The reason I finished portrait #3 before portrait #2? Phil Laak's impossible-as-yet-to-capture sardonic grin. Really been struggling with this one, tempted to just paint a big grey hood over the top but to admit artistic defeat has never appealed to me, so on I shall labour...

The mouth needs to be smaller and higher up to the nose I think.

Ho hum...

Portrait 3: Pics

Bruce Grobbelar?

Ming the Merciless??

For some reason I had an overwhelming urge to paint Greenstein with his eyes closed. Not just because he has very sleepy-looking eyes, but for some other reason I can't quite put my finger on as well. Perhaps because he seems to be so completely unassocaited with any of the materialism that often goes hand-in-hand with the neon lights of high-stakes gambling? I don't know. Either way, I had to give him a green shirt, didn't I?

I might just have to adjust the lips slightly to make it look more like Barry, but this is more or less finished.

...34 to go...

WSOPE

All the updates from the current World Series of Poker Europe...

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Portrait 3: Barry Greenstein

Some source images I'm going to be using when painting Barry Greenstein...

Portrait 1: Working Progress

Here are the working progress photos of my portrait of The Magician, this one went through a really obvious messy stage in the middle, which doesn't always happen, but I pulled it in nicely at the end. Check it out...

This one looks like plastic surgery gone bad

This one... Ryan Giggs? Joe Calzaghe? Aren't they the same person??

OK, it's starting to resemble Antonio now

...a bit closer to the finish line. The glasses and beard add so much of Antonio's image to the painting, I also exaggerate the curl of his lip

This needs one or two final tweaks, but it's more or less all done. I really enjoy the way the background looks, totally by accident cos I painted the canvas black as originally we were going to use black backgrounds, the crimson colour over the top works extremely well and I'll be using crimson over black for all the backgrounds from now on. I couldn't be more pleased with the way this turned out! 1 down, 35 to go...

Portraits 1 & 2 Updates

OK, for the record, that pencil sketch in the last post was a forensic police drawing of the original Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski, based on eye-witness descriptions, not my portrait of Phil Laak!

Now we've cleared that one up...

See my portrait of the Joker on the floor? It's for sale if anyone wants it :-)

The Antonio portrait has reached the messy stage. I've just been blocking colour onto the canvas, trying to build up some early tones on the face and forehead, and blacked in some rough features as a guide to work around. A good couple of hours of work and this should start to look a little bit like who it's supposed to. Also, the backgrounds on the canvas are now going to be a dark red, to complement Dusk Till Dawn's graphic identity, so I will need to work over that black.



OK, this really is my portrait of Phil Laak, but don't worry, this is just a rough guide to help me lay the first block of paints on the canvas, so if you're thinking to yourself it doesn't look much like him, wait until I've done a little bit more. Hopefully, with a tiny spot of luck, it should turn out looking something like this handsome devil...

Portrait 2: Phil Laak

The logical next portrait for me was Antonio's best buddy, The Unabomber Phil Laak...

See the resemblance?

I thought for this portrait I would avoid Laak's traditional unabomber image, and instead go for the laid-back look he seems to favour more recently, of easy bleached hair and huge insect-eye sunglasses...

This seems to be what Phil Laak enjoys looking like, creating an image combining his wit and fast-talking with a cooler more surf-style, movie-star type look.

I don't know though, the hood might look good. I guess I could always add one after if I change my mind...

Pick a Card...

OK, I thought it fitting that I started this collection with a portrait of the man whose portrait started it all, Antonio Esfandiari. The copy I sent to Vegas for Antonio back in May still hasn't arrived, so it's time to face up to the fact it's probably never going to, and send him out another, with a tracking number on it.

In the meantime, the job at hand is to paint a new portrait of the man they call The Magician, and here's a few source images I've been looking at...

Victoria's Secret?

Anyway... Antonio is one of the most celebrated names in poker, and his style is very smooth, slick and sharp. His distinctive black hair and thick-framed glasses, usually with a goatee beard of some description, are often complemented by black shirts, t-shirts and jackets. Features that I will focus on when painting Antonio are his sharp facial lines, spiky dark hair, black-rimmed frames, and a distinctive upwards curl on the right side of his top lip.

OK, off to start painting...

(Visit Antonio's official site here)

Portrait 1: Antonio Esfandiari

OK, more to follow shortly, this is just a sneak preview of the mock-up sketch of The Magician...

Dusk Till Dawn Poker ~ Gallery of Champions ~ Blog Report

Europe's biggest Poker venue, Dusk Till Dawn Nottingham, have commissioned me to fill an entire wall in their amazing club with portraits of famous poker champions. The portraits will be of instantly recognisable and much-loved faces from the phenomenally popular world of poker, high-rolling superstars such as Antonio Esfandiari, Gus Hansen, Marcel Luske and Roland De Wolfe, and will all be set to ultra-cool black backgrounds on 20 x 16" (508 x 406mm) colour acrylic box canvases to be unveiled at Dusk Till Dawn's Anniversary Cup event on Wednesday 3rd December 2008.

I've created this blog for anybody who is interested to drop by and check on my progress, my thoughts, ideas, source materials, working progress and pics of some finished and unfinished works and to get in touch with me with any ideas they wish to share.

I'm really looking forward to painting these portraits, and to seeing the end result hanging on the wall at Dusk Till Dawn.

Right, I'm off to pick up some canvases...


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