Stallone Caricature - pencil drawing

A lot of people pass what I think is quite harsh judgement on Stallone. Admittedly he has been in a lot of really poor films. Possibly the lowest point would be "Stop or My Mom will Shoot!" - a dreadful attempt to cash in by combining one of the cast of the then very popular Golden Girls with the violent action films of the early nineties.
He has speech impediment - "God he can't even speak right, he just drawls" as a lot of film snobs would point out. Hey, just wait a minute here, he suffered from a facial paralysis caused by a botched attempt to use forceps during his birth and despite this quite considerable handicap went on to write and play the lead in a massively iconic American film and star in many others becoming a huge box office draw in the process. Now that is drive and determination. How many people must have told him "You'll never be an actor Stallone - just give it up" when he started out? Yet he pressed on regardless. Wish I had one percent of his drive.
His commitment to any film role is what can be described as full on - even now he is late middle aged he threw himself into the action sequences of "The Expendables". Certainly in my mind he is committed as Daniel Day Lewis (a huge scenery chewing ham in my opinion) yet DDL is feted as an acting genius whilst Stallone is sneered at despite his turn in "Cop Land"
Anyway - he's got a great face to draw and caricature.

Craic Dealer Bumper Sticker

Put this on your car but don't blame me if you get pulled over a bit more often than normal ...

Craic Dealer Bumper Sticker by Sinclair's Design Studio

Now in colour too ;-)

Craic Dealer Irish Bumper Sticker by Sinclair's Design Studio

The Grey

Talking of wolves I went to see The Grey recently. I'm not sure how Liam Neeson suddenly became the poster boy for aging alpha male action films. Being quite tall and imposing he still gets away with it, especially here where he is swaddled in layers of winter clothing to hide any middle aged spread.
The entire movie seems to have actually have actually been filmed in the frozen wastes of Colarado or some equally desolate environment so I have to give credit for the cast's commitment. Neeson claims to have taken ten minute cold showers every day for a month before filming to acclimatise.
In short a plane crashes (very good scene), and Neeson rounds up the surviving passengers whilst growling orders and snippets of wolf centred wood craft at them to enable them to survive attentions of a pack of the vicious predators attracted by the carnage of the crash site. It isn't, however, as straight forward as that so as their predicament unfolds and we get more of Neeson's character's back story there is enough to keep the viewer interested right to the end.
7/10

Chairman Meow TShirt

I didn't create this, but I really wish I had. I think it's absolutely brilliant.

Chairman Meow by obeythepurebreed
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Zombie Trainspotters Mug

Trainspotters ... their overwhelming desire for trains overcomes their zombie desire for brains.

Zombie Trainspotters Mug by TheSinx

Man on a Ledge

Another cookie of a movie from the Hollywood cookie cutter production line. Attractive leading man - check. Marginally less attractive male side kick with slight comic overtones - check. Hot babe - check. Feisty female detective who's easy on the eye - check. Corrupt finance/banker/property mogul - check. Corrupt cops - check check check It all works out in the end - check.
I, for one, do not understand the appeal of Sam Worthington to the big directors. I think he's bland and unmemorable, possibly because I grew up in the era of big action heroes like Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Gibson. However, Jamie Bell is very good. Not being American I can't vouch for the autheticity of his accent (although it seems way better than the occasional broad Aussie vowel that pops up in Worthington's efforts) but he sounds completely different and moves differently. He could actually be someone completely different. Hey, maybe he's acting! Another oddity is Titus Welliver as corrupt police chief Dante Marcus who played Jimmy O'Fallon in SoA - the man with the worst Irish Accent since Tom Cruise in Far and Away.
Five out of ten.

Wolf

I love wolves (well, the idea of them anyway!). Somehow don't know if I'd like to meet a genuine one walking in the forest. I used to do a lot of wolf drawings when I was younger but haven't done one for a long time.
So this time using PS I drew a snarling wolf's head front on using a brush with the dual brush function turned on. Even though I plan to clean it up anyway and make the lines as smooth as possible somehow without the dual brush to give texture it feels wrong trying to draw with it.
This is the finished version - I imported it into Inkscape to give all the lines a very smooth vector look. Need a new computer though, my laptop is slooooow running Inkscape.

I plan to try and use this in a design later on