Barnabas Portrait

This is my entry for the Dark Shadows contest. I don't normally do portraits, it's one of my weakest areas. This was a good excuse to practice some portraiture. Plus the chance of Tim Burton judging my piece is priceless. About half of my time was spent on the faces, and I still feel I haven't got them quite right. I guess that's what I get for not choosing an existing pose to paint from. I spent a lot of time on their eyes. They both have an intense stare that I wanted to capture.

I never really watched the series. I was still a little kid when I came across it, and at that time I found the series very slow with too much drama. I'm glad the movie is going in a different direction.

As always good luck to everyone who entered a piece.

Edit: since I have a couple more days until the deadline I think I'll work on it more, there are some things that are bothering me.

Update: I spent all night redoing both faces. As well as some other small things. I had to put a band-aid on my finger because a blister was forming where the wacom pen resting. I very happy with the result and glad I went back to fix their faces. I think this is the final version but there's still 2 day left and I may find something else that bothers me.

Here is the prior version.

I would like to thank ~G-gG [link] for some really good suggestions to improve the piece.

Also DA, keep these sponsored contests coming. I think it's a great chance for an unknown to get exposure, and earn great prizes. It's also a good way to see how your skills stand up to others in the field.