Saga of Seven - The Art of Stuart Kim - The Great Gordon Ramsay

10.25.2008

Hardware/Software:
Wacom Intuos 3
PhotoShop

He is entertaining to watch indeed...

Saga of Seven - The Art of Stuart Kim - The Great Gordon Ramsay

Here is a close up of the face at about 30% of the original painted size.

Saga of Seven - The Art of Stuart Kim - The Great Gordon Ramsay

Here is a close up shot of Gordon's facial area. Adding the wrinkles on the forehead was a fun deal.

Here is another close up shot of Gordon's facial area with an alternate snarling expression. It's not very accurate in capturing the emotion though. I could have pushed it a lot more.

So the sketch starts loose in Photoshop. I took a small, round standard brush and started laying down lines. I normally like to draw on paper and then have it scanned in. I feel like I can draw more accurately this way, but I went all digital on this.

I'm not happy with the likeness so far. He looks more like a mix between Rutger Hauer and Anthony Hopkins. Now I have to start fixing, fixing and do more fixing. Adjusting the shape of the face, specifically the jaw-line seems to make it a little better.

I need to go back to the reference images that I have at hand. Whenever you do stuff like this, it's always good to have reference materials pre-collected. This will help you navigate through as you attempt to find the right structural design.

Okay, I am still struggling here and trying to make this work. I have moved on to applying some color with the intent of fixing things more as I paint up the figure. I think I want to push more of the caricature features on this character.

Things are starting to come together here. The wrinkles tell the story. Years upon years on laughing, frowning and yelling have marked deep groves on his forehead, eyes and mouth. I think I'll make more adjustments to his head. He looks too heavy here.

The head is now wider at the top and tapers inward as you proceed down to the chin. Gordon Ramsay's canary-yellow hair is one of his distinguishing traits. The shoulders are also brought which in turn sets up the rest of the body to be more cartoony as well.

His jaw was looking too jaggy and angular. I decided to round it out a bit more. Also I wasn't happy with his mouth so I re-painted it. It seems to flow better now. The face was looking dark and splotchy so I even out the skin tone and brightened it up. I am thinking about adding some subtle, hot spots to his forehead and cheeks.

After adding some hot spots to his forehead, nose, cheeks and mouth area, it's looking much better. Now it's time to paint up the hair, ears, and the rest of his body, including his hands and the kitchen knife he is holding. Throughout this process I kept flipping my composition horizontally to check for design flaws.

Refinements to the eyes, eyebrows, wrinkles, and the hair have brought us to the final design. The hair and body details were kept relatively simple compared to that of the face. This helps to keep the painting looser while bringing clarity and attention to the face which is the main focal point. I hope you enoyed it!