This was one of the longest and toughest works I attempted, one I would sometimes regret during the 3 months (!) process. She really tested my patience!

After completing the b/w portrait I thought I was ready to paint someone recognisable. And if you browsed this site you should know she’s one of my favourite subjects, so I took Portman’s Miss Dior advertising as a start:

Some time ago I wrote how doing a portrait is one of the most challenging tasks: while you wouldn’t tell apart 2 very different dogs of the same breed, your brain is wired to spot even the tiniest difference in someone’s face – I guess for survival reasons.

So, attempting anyone’s portrait has a strong chance of failure – therefore it may be very stressful. Anyways, here was my 3 months process in a single gif – I’m too shy to show some of the intermediate stuff, better to go fast here!

As you can see I changed my mind a few times on the background, which means major rework… and also it started by looking more like a guy than a woman, you can imagine my frustration.. Thankfully at the end of almost 40 hours.. it turned out ok!

Here’s me for size!