Spent yesterday afternoon watching Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” extended cut yesterday. I had never seen this version and there was some fun things that answered some questions I had from the previous films, but it is a serious time committment. 

I have been having some persistent creative block, so I took it as an opportunity to experiment with a portrait of the wonderful Sir Ian McKellen. This was just a small sketch portrait to help me work through some of my processes. 

His portrayal as Gandalf across The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises is probably the best thing in both films. There are great performances by many, but he really does steal the scenes he is in due to his commanding presence. 

These portraits were created using Adobe Illustrator, Corel Painter, and Adobe Photoshop.

Portrait of one of the original members of Hollywood’s Rat Pack and half of the legendary duo with Jerry Lewis, Dino Paul Crocetti or more commonly known as Dean Martin.

Growing up as a grandson of Italian immigrants, there were not many positive Italian role models in the media; mostly criminals, gangsters, and mobsters across pop culture. From the days of Al Capone through Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” the depiction of Italians in America was forever intertwined with the criminal elements.

That perception modulated a bit due to the presence of Dean Martin as a singer, comedian, and actor starting in the 1940’s. Most famously paired with Jerry Lewis he was a popular role model in virtually every household in my, mostly Italian, town growing up and a huge favorite for all of my Italian relatives. He was a wonderful crooner and a likeable presence in the films of my youth. 

This portrait was created using Adobe Illustrator, Corel Painter, and Adobe Photoshop.