Max Von Sydow

A farewell caricature for the great Max Von Sydow. Brilliantly introduced to a ten-year-old-me as Flash Gordon's arch enemy, Ming The Merciless. Such a great face.

Tools: Sketchbook Pro, Iluustrator + Photoshop

Mads Mikkelsen

My face-tug of the actor Mads Mikkelsen. Sometimes I feel I'm getting close to answering the question 'how far is too far?'!
Tools: Sketcbook Pro + Illustrator + Photoshop

James Earl Jones

One of the many faces of the great man with the great voice—James Earl Jones. He is Darth Vader.

Tools: sketchbook pro + photoshop. Click on image for larger view.

Adam Driver

I dunno why, but I just find things going in one ear and out the other inherently funny. Anyway, thought I'd kick off the new year with a face tug of Force Awakens' badass, Adam Driver. Not unusual for me to be one film behind the times...
Best wishes for 2017, everyone...

JJ Abrams - A force for good?

Like many of you I've watched the new teaser trailer for the next film in the Star Wars franchise: The Force Awakens, and...hmmm, well, not sure what I think. I do feel wary after watching the incredible visuals of each of the prequel trailers, when they were first shown years ago, which proved that not even they could convey how hokey some of the final effects were to turn out to be, not to mention the plotting, the dialogue, the acting, or (how can we ever forget/forgive) some of the new characters!

My personal bug-bear is the tinkering with the lightsabres. OK, Maul's double-ended sabre was a nice touch but now we're looking at the possibility of some kind of cruciform version. Leave 'em alone!

So, we'll just have to wait and see - but I really hope that Mr JJ Abrams proves to be a more welcome addition to the much-loved universe than Mr JJ Binks.

Stuart Freeborn RIP

Here's a quick sketch of another person intimately linked with the Star Wars universe who has finally passed over and become one with the force. Stuart Freeborn, a make-up artist,  may not be instantly recognisable by name but his creations are globally familiar - his most iconic being Yoda (the pea-green, pint size, sith-botherer from the Star Wars films, in case you didn't know). Apparently, Yoda was based on himself - fair play!