Breaking Bad and Sopranos Portraits

Well, Walter White is dead and Jesse Pinkman is headed off to who knows where.  It was a great ending to a great show.  I wish I had gotten into it sooner, I may have been drawing these portraits for years and making nice side cash.  These have been hugely popular in the past couple months.  I sold a few singles then I was commissioned to do this set of six Breaking Bad, and the same client now has me on nine Sopranos actors.  You can click these pics to see more detail.

I'm working on the fourth, fifth and sixth Sopranos pieces now for the next triple.  I get one, sometimes two portraits done in a week.  It's funny, my whole life I declined portrait work.  I need the finished result to be very very close for me to be happy with my work, and for me at least, I need to use this particular technique on very textured paper to be able to do it without getting too frustrated.  In the past I think I didn't realize that the size I'm working at and the texture were much of what makes it possible.

I think if I'm not commissioned for anything new after The Sopranos, I might do a nice set of The Walking Dead people.

Updated 12/10/13
Here's the second triple with Christopher, Junior, and Bobby.

And the third and final Sopranos piece featuring a few bad guys, Phil Leotardo, Johnny Sack, and Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero.

I'm being commissioned to do some larger, single piece collages for Game of Thrones next.  Each family or clan will have about five portraits involved.  I haven't seen the show yet but I suppose I'll have to get on that so I know who I'm drawing.  I was glad to have finally gotten around to seeing The Sopranos.  It was good, a lot of whackings, but I thought at times it could have been a little edgier.  I binge watched this show also, like I did with Breaking Bad.  Looks like Game of Thrones is next.  There was nothing in any of my art classes about any of this miniseries crap.  LMAO.

Breaking Bad... OMG!

I wonder if I'm the only one out here or there who's freaked enough over this whole series ending tomorrow to need to "cook up some product" (rock candy) for the final event?  Having experienced this entire series in only about three weeks has spoiled me and is about to leave me a twisted, shattered wreck on the shores of utter desolation.  Nah, it's all good, man.  LMAO  Anyway I read about something maybe the next project is Gus Fring and Saul Goodman getting started together.  Maybe Mike comes back as a regular, he was great.  That right there to me sounds like a winning setup.  Anyway to make this here faux "meth" just go find any site on making rock candy.  Read a couple.  They're only a page, it's easy.  So make enough to cover your VERY NON STICK PAN to the depth of 1/4".  (boil water, 1/2 cup, remove from heat, add sugar and stir, add, stir, add, stir, until sugar won't dissolve.  REALLY won't dissolve, not just a few granules at the bottom.)  Add one drop blue food coloring, half teaspoon mint or any flavoring... pour into non stick pan no deeper than 1/4" and put in front of a fan.  As it crystallizes you can speed it up by tilting the tray back and forth every few hours, but give it time for the crystals to form, it's slow.

So... WHAT THE FUCK IS GONNA HAPPEN?!?!  I can't wait to see what Walter is going to do with the very large gun.  I'm sure there will be a point where we'll be teased by him almost losing the gun, but it won't happen.  If the whole big gun thing turns out to be a red herring I'll be pissed.  I'm looking to see Todd's guts sprayed across one wall, Uncle Jack's across the other, but I think it will be Jesse who will exact that revenge.  Walt is probably going after Schwartz and his wife first then to Uncle Jack's for his money and there will be a confrontation between Walt and Jesse.  They only have a "one hour" time slot so I'm wondering how they're going to wrap this up "comfortably".  I guess we'll see, won't we?

Getting very close now...

Only time for a few more cooks before the end.  Well, it's been an interesting ten days for me... considering that I just started watching this series that long ago.  Yeah, I had heard about it, but since I didn't get AMC I hadn't gotten into it.  Then my brother Brian (The Once-ler) suggested that I check it out, so I did.  Having all the episodes was both good and bad, in that I was able to go from one exciting episode end straight to the next one without having to wait a week, but it also kept me from doing just about everything else in that time.  Fortunately I did shower every day and I didn't lose any work time, but I have my work cut out for me cleaning up my place now that I'm caught up.

What I'm trying to figure out is the symbolism of The Fly.  I've spent considerable time thinking about it, but I haven't been able to come up with anything really clear.  Ok, the fly might represent the shortness of life and being diligent about getting done what needs to be done with an imminent death looming.  Maybe not.  It could represent a desire to be above everyone else, elusive and uncatchable as in the episode where White obsesses over the fly in the laboratory.  It could represent ever present contamination in his life, or the ultimate desire for he himself to be brought down.  In fact, that's kind of the one I'm leaning toward.  He is the fly, eluding the authorities who view him as a contaminant.  He needs to get his work done in his short lifespan, and he needs to do it before he gets swatted down.  I think the writers might have been pointing us at this by Walt Jr.'s choice of nicknames:  Flynn. 

So including tonight's episode, there are three left.  Having watched 4 3/4 seasons in ten days has spoiled me, and I think these last couple weeks are going to be tough.  There's no way I would watch it all again... is there?

Modern Oddities

I was recently introduced to an Odd fellow, by a friend who lives on the wrong side of the planet.  I'm not going to go into a detailed critique but I will recommend reading it as well as the next installments in the ongoing adventure.  I also highly recommend seeing the movie although it hasn't been widely released yet. 

One thing that made me want to post here was the attention to the detail of the book, which I've been griping about lately if you've been reading back.  Under The Dome is absolutely nothing like the book, yet the Odd Thomas movie is almost exactly like the book and I loved watching it.  The few times the movie strayed from the book it seemed natural and necessary.  95% of the book was in the movie, and that's the way it should be.

Here's a bodach...

way scarier in motion...

And "Stormy" Llewellyn whose name is Bronwen but she thinks it makes her sound like an elf...I anagramed it as newborn right away but who knows if that means anything.

You are destined to be together forever...

What do you mean you've never heard of "Toasted Soup"?

Ok so it's the middle of the night and whatever you've done to your brain in the past few hours has left you a helpless victim of one of the most classic of cravings... a tangy, buttery, cheesy crunch.  Well, this is a cure.  It's called Toasted Soup.  Start with butter, shredded cheese, (I prefer cheddar) and a Ramen Noodle package that hasn't been stepped on.  Break the noodles in half where it folds over.  Leave the particles on the plate, they help soak up excess butter.

Toast the two halves until golden brown.  It takes longer than toast, and I usually rotate them a couple times during toasting.  Now butter them up.  A little more than I usually would put on regular toast.

Now sprinkle some of the flavor package around evenly.  How much you use is up to how much salt/flavor tang you're down for.  I usually use about a third of the package.

And now for the cheese.  Use a lot.  You're not planning on living forever, are you?  The next step is designed to melt the cheese and help send hot butter further through the noodle thing.  I do 30 seconds in the nuke but keep an eye on it in case your machine is stronger.  Stop when the cheese melts fully and just barely bubbles.  If yours comes out too soft and you need more crunch, reduce the nuke time or melt the cheese under a broiler or in a toaster oven.

Yeah, that's the stuff.  I've been making this since college, and it's as awesome today as it was back then.  I hope it comes out perfect for you, and if not, it's easy to tweak it in the direction you need.  When you've done a couple, you can make it in about 3 or 4 minutes.  I think it's The Snack Of The Century.  Mangia!