Three Card Portraits

I've uploaded a detail of the card deck face cards I just completed on Thursday.


It was a pretty interesting project, quite a distance from my comfort zone. These are definitely the most advanced portraits I've completed in Adobe Illustrator, incorporating some of the ideas I've been exposed to here on deviantART. Particularly, the highlights on these characters is inspired by Dezgardous (below, left) and ChewedKandi (below, right)
 

Here are my thoughts on my three portraits:

Jack - The Jack was the easiest of the batch. I guess I had started with a pretty strong look (vaguely based on Tom Hiddleston's Loki, though with modified features). I also received helpful direction from Lynne, my art director, during development. I had a fun time working in the shadows on this face.

Queen - I'm actually dissatisfied with how she turned out. I had intended her to be older and more badass, but in the end, I received AD that she was too "old and tired looking". To the company's credit, they have in the past had difficulties with dour-looking queens... The result was that I had to redraw her to look look acceptable. But to me she looks overly young and vague. Ick! BUT, on the plus side, I really got into experimenting with makeup, adding blush and layered lipstick - also the subtle coloration around the eyeballs. I tried mascara too, but the results were dreadful, and were soon deleted. So I learned a lot, she just doesn't live up to my vision.

King - The king was originally based on Edward Woodward's portrail of the Ghost of Christmas Present, except Lynne didn't think that Santa Claus was an appropriate model for a king. Throughout production, I danced on the boundary between "regal" and "genial". At one point, my art director complained that the face was suffering from extremely chunky linework. I was using a Wacom tablet and pressure sensitive calligraphy brush, but couldn't control it! After some research, I learned that my problem was that my tablet was set waaay too soft for my heavy hands. Hard lesson learned! Fixing this required repainting the face, but the result was serendipitous. The redrawn eyes had a certain "sparkle" that really clicked with Lynne.

So they were a great learning experience, sometimes bumpy, but a nice change from interface design. Overall, professional work I can be proud of. Who's your favorite?