Life size portrait

Well it's been about two years since I've added anything! I can only say that I hope this is a good thing because I have been so busy working on commissions.
Here is a very rare effort at lifesize. So far the number of portraits I've done at this scale is seven. This one started probably about seven years ago in chavant hard. I was happy with the direction the likeness was going in but I found the material so difficult to work that it put me off. I found a mixture with soft or medium, made life easier.

Telephone Girl

I had an idea to do a series of girl kits inspired by how different illustrators interpret the female form. This piece was based on a Bill Ward drawing.

Bill knew what he liked! I was drawn to it because there is a lot of opportunity for different textures. The smoothness of her stockings, the patterning of the lace and the wrinkling of her gloves. I could imagine it painting well in greys, except possibly for her red lipstick.

Bill's anatomy was never lifelike, so I haven't tried to be either. Unfortunately neither was his underwear, I think he just made up silky things  for the visual effect. I didn't want to copy them literally as they wouldn't look too convincing.
This is where this one has come to a halt. With the thought of having to come up with some kind of  underwear that is in keeping with Bill's style but more credible!

I was also thinking to sculpt her lacy night jacket and arrange it so that it would form the base. Working out how to create this has also proved daunting, maybe I will use real lace and stiffen it.

Daniel Craig James Bond

I started this one before Casino Royale, it would be nice to finish it before Skyfall!

The reference for it was taken from Layer Cake. His face changed somewhat between Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace but it was very difficult to define how, maybe he'd dieted.
I still haven't resolved how I'm going to finish off the base, something Bond themed would be good, suggestions welcome.

G.M.T.

Originally for this I did a straight forward portrait of Peter Cushing from his Hammer horror period. With the intention of producing a quick mould and several wax casts. The cast would be the basis of other Cushing characters, such as his portrayal of Dr Who and this one as the Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars.

I pulled three casts from the mould. After some tidying up I began to age him, as to how he looked in Star Wars. Once I feel that I am getting close to what I want. I try to photograph it from a similar angle  to my main reference pic (you can never have too much reference.) I then take it into photoshop, do a simple line tracing of the reference and overlay it over the image of my sculpt.