Portrait Compleated

So, after resolving the background, making more changes here and there, and just living with the thing for a while, waiting for something I had overlooked to show itself, I finally decided it was as finished as it was going to get.

Just a little cartoon of mine for today.

Rules are rules after all.

ADVENTURES IN SKETCHUP

Sketchup is addictive!  I've spent a lot of time creating a three dimensional model of the house I grew up in.  You don't know how many details you have forgotten till you try to do this.
I went on to do Sherlock Holmes flat.  I started with the PBS version and then modified it with a few features from the Connan Doyle stories left out of the TV set.  However, Doyle seems to have not had a consistent notion of the layout.  So I have had to make compromises.

Portrait progress

Those Sketchup designs of our remodel plans are being acted on, so my energies are being directed there rather than to art.
However, the next stage of progress on the portrait is available to show.   

Getting close to the finish.

STUDIO STUFF

I like to keep all sorts of items I find interesting around me in the studio. It gets to be a bit cluttered but that's OK.
I read that Freud had a collection of figurines and here's a picture of Ray Bradbury in his office.  He's even got a wonderful model of the Nautilus (behind the red dinosaur) he got while working for Disney.  Anyway, these things are great to sketch and often show up in my artwork.

ANATOMY

So, how useful is it really to have a good knowledge of anatomy when drawing people?
It should be, but I can't really say why exactly. Anyway, I keep working to improve my understanding of what lies below the blanket of skin.  Drawing something improves your visual memory of it.

Drawing with a ball point in my sketchbook.  Suppose there were birds that discovered they could use the warmth of geysers to hatch their eggs.  Of course, it didn't work well and often hard boiled them instead.  Naturally they became extinct.