Portrait of actor David Suchet as the great detective Hercule Poirot. That is one of the truly great match-ups of actor to role. His Poirot is a fussy, perfectionist genius. I’ve seen many actors take on the role, but his performance is the first time I felt like I understood the character.
I loved the warm, moody lighting in the original reference. That wound up being hard to get across without cheating, but I think the results are pretty nice. The sketch came together quickly. The likeness is solid. And against my usual pattern, this piece did not have a despair period when I went to block in the colors. Maybe I did a better job picking base colors this time?
I showed an early phase to a friend parallel with the reference. I was explaining how I’ve been gaining in confidence in my color work. The finished work is good, but not because I had an unerring sense of color to start. Once I had that base layer down, it became much easier to triangulate on better choices. The back wall is much cooler and less saturated than the orange hue I started with. His skin was too yellow. I can try to eyeball a color in the abstract, but I don’t need to hit it on the first swing. Asking if a color in context is warmer or cooler — more or less saturated — than another in the same context is pretty easy. As I blend in the various attempts, I’m actually developing some depth and complexity in the color scene.
I may have finally come to believe I can succeed at color work.
