The reference photos for these are here (among many other sites) and here. My Pete Townshend sketch looks a bit like someone I know and the Thom Yorke one looks a bit like someone else I know.

Sketch of Nick Lowe circa 2007 or so, reference from an At My Age press photo.

I was searching for a good Gene Simmons reference photo and couldn’t find anything I liked but stumbled upon this photo of Ringo Starr within the search. It was with a trivia quiz asking what band Ringo Starr played in prior to The Beatles. The answer (Paul Revere and the Raiders, although according to Wikipedia, he actually played with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes) included a Gene Simmons reference. I can’t find a credit for the photograph, found uncredited here, here, here, and here.

It was Elvis‘ 75th birthday Friday, watched Jailhouse Rock on TCM while sketching.

Mos Def looking a bit like Castro maybe, some distortion. This is from an upside down reference photo. I’m using Jack Unruh’s drawing method, blind contour drawing starting with one eye and working out from there, creates distortion. But I’ve noticed if I combine that with a reference to the frame, drawing the negative areas around the edge of the page (I crop the reference into a proportion matching my Moleskin), I get a bit more accuracy. So the Sillitto drawing is a little less distorted. Lorenzo Sillitto is the guitarist for The Temper Trap (sound like a Travis/Deerhunter blend).

This is a drawing of the actor Paul Bryar in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode from 1955 called “Salvage” made using an upside down screenshot reference, drawn with a Pentel brush pen.

Kong!! This is from a photo from issue #108 Famous Monsters of Filmland of a sculpted Kong figure from the first film. Basil Gogos used this same photo for his painting featured on the cover of that issue.

This is a bundled up wool sweater portrait using an upside down photo reference with a Pentel brush pen and some messing around in Photoshop. January is just way too cold for me.

Personal work, Sketches