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Those of you who've been following along with this portrait series will recognize how big of a departure from business as usual this particular composition is. While I have a deep and sincere appreciation for the beauty of Adam's form, I generally hope folks looking at these portraits are focused less on the impressive results of his dedication to self maintenance and more on the jaw-droppingresults of his dedication to honing his acting skills. But in this case, those two elements are so intertwined that it would have been a disservice to only focus on his face, because this man is giving us quiet yearning with his entire body-- with his whole chest, if you will.
And so, instead of cropping closely to Adam's face so that we can appreciate the finer points of the subtlety of his expression without getting caught in the headlights of the rest of him, this time I chose to include a fair bit of his torso.
It's a beautiful, quietly dynamic, pose; his body is in 3/4 profile with his head turned a little more toward us in 7/8 profile, allowing us to see a peek of his right shoulder above those solid slabs of pectorals tipped with hair-haloed nipples pebbled in the chilly air, foreshortening highlighting the hillocks and hollows of his clavicles. Adam is holding himself proudly, chest open, shoulders down and back, giving us a chance to appreciate the depth and breadth of him. He's lean enough that the three bundles of muscle fibers (clavicular, acromial, and scapular) that make up his deltoid are distinctly visible, and the gently meandering line marking the edge of his pectoral as it inserts into the flat plane of his sternum is also revealed. That extraordinary lighting not only traces the muscular line of his neck and shoulder down to the swell of his tricep but is also sparking on the tiny hairs on his upper arm, as well as a bit of gooseflesh nearer his elbow. The gentle twist of his neck to turn his face toward us highlights the strength of it's column, the sinews, running up from the notch at the hollow of his throat, framing his adam's apple and chin.
And Adam's face! The faraway gaze, the gentle knit to his brow, the proud line of his nose leading down to the calm repose of that full mouth. The way the inner corners of his brows tip upward just a bit, the roundness of his eyes, and the rumpling of his chin are the only tiny signs of emotion, and with the distance of his gaze they feel almost wistful. Combine that yearning with the proud carriage of his body and you have yourself a shirtless byronic Hero.
Photo used for reference was taken by Mario Sorrenti in mid-September 2019 for the 2024 Burberry Hero fragrance campaign.
About 28.5 hrs of painting time, give or take. As painstaking as it was, I really did enjoy the challenge of painting each of those tiny hairs catching the sun on his left arm. Along the way I think I might have found his smallpox vaccination scar, a slightly-smaller-than-dime-sized oval just below the large mole centered on his deltoid. And rendering the dappling of light on the underside of his left cheekbone, and the glow of the reflected light on the apple of his right was a lot of fun, as well as the texture of his stubble catching the light along his jawline.
And so, instead of cropping closely to Adam's face so that we can appreciate the finer points of the subtlety of his expression without getting caught in the headlights of the rest of him, this time I chose to include a fair bit of his torso.
It's a beautiful, quietly dynamic, pose; his body is in 3/4 profile with his head turned a little more toward us in 7/8 profile, allowing us to see a peek of his right shoulder above those solid slabs of pectorals tipped with hair-haloed nipples pebbled in the chilly air, foreshortening highlighting the hillocks and hollows of his clavicles. Adam is holding himself proudly, chest open, shoulders down and back, giving us a chance to appreciate the depth and breadth of him. He's lean enough that the three bundles of muscle fibers (clavicular, acromial, and scapular) that make up his deltoid are distinctly visible, and the gently meandering line marking the edge of his pectoral as it inserts into the flat plane of his sternum is also revealed. That extraordinary lighting not only traces the muscular line of his neck and shoulder down to the swell of his tricep but is also sparking on the tiny hairs on his upper arm, as well as a bit of gooseflesh nearer his elbow. The gentle twist of his neck to turn his face toward us highlights the strength of it's column, the sinews, running up from the notch at the hollow of his throat, framing his adam's apple and chin.
And Adam's face! The faraway gaze, the gentle knit to his brow, the proud line of his nose leading down to the calm repose of that full mouth. The way the inner corners of his brows tip upward just a bit, the roundness of his eyes, and the rumpling of his chin are the only tiny signs of emotion, and with the distance of his gaze they feel almost wistful. Combine that yearning with the proud carriage of his body and you have yourself a shirtless byronic Hero.
Photo used for reference was taken by Mario Sorrenti in mid-September 2019 for the 2024 Burberry Hero fragrance campaign.
About 28.5 hrs of painting time, give or take. As painstaking as it was, I really did enjoy the challenge of painting each of those tiny hairs catching the sun on his left arm. Along the way I think I might have found his smallpox vaccination scar, a slightly-smaller-than-dime-sized oval just below the large mole centered on his deltoid. And rendering the dappling of light on the underside of his left cheekbone, and the glow of the reflected light on the apple of his right was a lot of fun, as well as the texture of his stubble catching the light along his jawline.
