Step by step painting: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I haven't done a large acrylic painting for ages and as I have a bit of space now in my office/studio room I thought it was about time I did one! I've wanted to do a picture of Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander for a while (since seeing the David Fincher version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and so I got a canvas (150cm x 100cm) and planned what I was going to do. Here's the scary big white canvas:

There was a shot in the film I wanted to paint that had her sat in profile, similar to the image used for many of the film's posters - once I'd collected the reference I was ready to start:

After painting a solid light blue/grey background I painted on the design freehand (in the past I've used tracings and projections of small sketches, so this was a challenge and it came out much better than I expected). Then I painted the background and began working through the stages of the figure. I repainted the sky about three times I think as it became clear it was way too dark and the painting didn't have enough contrast. The hair and jacket were fun, the face was not and I don't think I did a great job on the skin textures and tones. Here's a closer view:

Sorry for the poor phone photos, at some point I will take a decent shot of it :)

So there it is, if anyone likes it and wants to buy it, make me an offer (I'll probably take it as I don't have room to keep it!) - e-mail me ;)

Now though I have a new big scary white canvas looking at me and a new painting planned - this one is going to ROCK! Stayed tuned ;)

A few more recent commissions...

Had some fun with these, great selection of themes! Check out my website or e-mail me if you're interested in getting a gift caricature for someone :)