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)