KRIS

So hot on the heels of the Lee pic, was the deadline for another picture. Brad, the writer of Career Suspect (details here, review here) a short 8 page story I did ages ago asked me to do a portrait of his girl friend. Apparently, while Brad is totally into comics, she doesn't really like any comic book artists except for me. I'm totally overwhelmed by this (given that Brad and JAn's living room is basically furnished in my art - I guess that's fortuitous). So the opportunity to do her justice was a real challenge.

The challenge was while I had met Kris a couple of time, I didn't really know her. I mean, all I knew was that she had good taste in guys and art (I just couldn't resist that one). Brad also gave me a pretty open brief along the lines of, "draw her as a comic character in a fantastic setting."

Some sketches later (and an inspired photo for the background) and I ended up with this. Personally, I love the pallette. It's so different to the colours I normally use. I also had fun retouching the background (it's a combination of about 4 photos) that inspired the mood and theme. My only regret is her dress. I just don't think the style of it does her justice. Kris is not a big girl, and I should have spent more time on the fall of the dress to emphasize that.

The hardest thing is imagining the lighting on someone's face. Most of the reference photos I was given are flat flash photography that just has no soul when you're trying to draw a portrait (similar problem to Lee's portrait). So trying to imagine Kris' face with different lighting while still maintaining a likeness was tough.

Other than that... I like it.

TECHNICAL CRAP: Again drawn with flat edge brush. 40% opacity overall, and 20% opacity on the face. Airbrush for mist and halos.