Photo Reference: Part 2

For this illustration there wasn't a specific actor,but there was an established look for the character. That look was Peter Caras' and later George Gross' interpretation of Steve Holland, the ubiquitous "action man" template/model for many of the 1960's and 70's pulp cover illustrators. So of course I went to my go to "action hero" and fellow Watts Atelier instructor Jim Hahn. Jim has the square jaw and steely gaze that is requisite for a pulp hero. So I dressed Jim up in a ridiculous costume and had him pose in a variety of heroic poses that fit the

rough thumbnail I had decided on.

Once I had the reference I liked, I then proceeded to the sketch phase where I turned Jim into Richard "The Avenger" Benson. This actually wasn't that hard because he already bears a passing resemblance to Steve Holland.

First I wanted to give him more heroic proportions so I broadened and rotated the shoulders more towards the camera, I shrunk the head, narrowed the waist, and enlarged the hands. Next I went to work on the head, here I squared off his jaw a little more, added the chin dimple, and gave the eye a bit more of a blank stare (as befits the character), I also thinned his lips some and sharpened his cheek bones.

One last think I modified was the left hand. I rotated it some and spread the fingers to get a stronger silhouette.

Photo Reference: Part 1

I have many different ways of working from thumbnail, to sketch, to final. In this instance I had the added challenge of getting a likeness of a character linked to a specific real person. So I gathered reference after the thumbnail (which I do not always do). When I got this job I was very excited because I am a fan of the Kolchak tv series and Darren McGavin. However, I knew this was going to be a challenge because both the A.D. and I wanted it to look like Mr. McGavin. So after coming up with a thumbnail I liked, I went and got the DVDs of the

first two Kolchak TV movies (much nicer

looking and cinematic than the later series)
and combed it for shots that would fit my thumbnail. I couldn't find the exact shot I wanted, but I found two that when pieced together would work. The next step was to shoot myself in a similar pose to Kolchak because I wanted more information to work with than the screen shots gave me. I also searched the internet for the camera that he used, I never found the exact one, but I did find a similar model.

I have now put together the reference I need, next the trick was to get what I needed out of the ref. I started with a rough lay-in from the screen grabs. Then, using the photos of myself and my own sense of idealization I began to redesign and render. I wanted to push a bit more of a tough rugged Clint Eastwood, or Tommy Lee Jones look, so I added a bit more structure to the face (especially the nose and chin) and squared off the jaw a little more. I also wanted more of a stern look to his squint, so I furrowed the brow and deepened the creases. I used the ref of me quite a bit in the hands, and tilted the shoulders to give a sense of movement. The challenge was to do all of this while maintaining the likeness.

After finishing up, I then paint the final illustration primarily from the final sketch. I only refer back to the photos if I need a little more information. This was a pretty tight sketch so I don't remember doing that too much here.

EDIT:

I was asked about the "zombie", here is the reference for him. It's me again, and an anatomical head used as ref to help zombify me. I normally just make up the zombification, but I wanted a very real, almost clinical look to this guy. I also distorted the proportion in the shadow to give him a quirky, supernatural vibe.

Tags: Kolchak, illustration, zombie, comic book