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Description
Here, have yet another pointless, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-inducing hyperrealistic study on me. Though if you're on Tumblr you'll have already seen it...

I was dusting the (electronic) dust off a whole pile of paintings I started but never finished last year, and this was the closest to completion, so I figured I might as well take it all the way. (I'd actually finished the head, but then work came to a screeching halt because I was seriously not looking forward to painting all that damn fabric fibre by fibre). Didn't fancy the original background - and I didn't want a complete reproduction anyway! - so I put London as a backdrop.

[Don't normally paint people this young *or* famous, but in this case there was so much texture to explore that I was compelled to make an attempt. Hey, at least I learnt how to paint curly hair... which has always been the bane of my existence. At least, where portraits are concerned.]

Why Benedict Cumberbatch? Because a covetous fire-breathing dragon who solves crime *and* takes on the crew of the Enterprise = win. That made no sense.

No outside textures used, because I’m an obsessive little freak. Work mostly done with a bog-standard hard round brush (though the background has some soft edge thrown in), but the fabric was done with the help of a scribbly custom brush I made to make life a little easier.

Progress and details here: [link]

Description
Here, have yet another pointless, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-inducing hyperrealistic study on me. Though if you're on Tumblr you'll have already seen it...

I was dusting the (electronic) dust off a whole pile of paintings I started but never finished last year, and this was the closest to completion, so I figured I might as well take it all the way. (I'd actually finished the head, but then work came to a screeching halt because I was seriously not looking forward to painting all that damn fabric fibre by fibre). Didn't fancy the original background - and I didn't want a complete reproduction anyway! - so I put London as a backdrop.

[Don't normally paint people this young *or* famous, but in this case there was so much texture to explore that I was compelled to make an attempt. Hey, at least I learnt how to paint curly hair... which has always been the bane of my existence. At least, where portraits are concerned.]

Why Benedict Cumberbatch? Because a covetous fire-breathing dragon who solves crime *and* takes on the crew of the Enterprise = win. That made no sense.

No outside textures used, because I’m an obsessive little freak. Work mostly done with a bog-standard hard round brush (though the background has some soft edge thrown in), but the fabric was done with the help of a scribbly custom brush I made to make life a little easier.

Progress and details here: [link]