Portrait: George Martin, Beatle Teacher

Still working on my portrait skills by drawing Beatles. Had quite the brain-fart with this one, wherein I blanked on the marker settings that work best for doing hair. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get McCartney's hair right (that's him in the foreground), and then it was just like, duh. I was going for a sketchier style with this one,  but only partially succeeded. Lennon is probably the best example. I had fun with all the metal reflections, though. Here's the original photo.

Anyway, I wanted to do one that focused on my favorite Beatle-related person (Para-Beatle?). Therefore, behold the guy demonstrating his wicked air-guitar: Sir George Martin. He's just so unlikely: Londoner, educated, middle-class, strait-laced/garden-variety/generally normal person, just doin' his job at Parlophone, and there he goes signing on these rowdy young Liverpudlians, mixing all their records.

That, and he taught them. Most guys would have just stayed behind the sound board and let them do their thing, but Martin kinda took them under his wing and introduced them to things like composition and arrangement, as well as all the cool stuff that's only possible in a studio. Better yet, when they started telling him what to do, he didn't chafe or get annoyed. He went ahead and did it. He has my respect for that.

I am intrigued that Lennon is wearing his glasses: he was self-conscious about them and didn't wear them in public much until later in his life. I would have liked to find a picture where Ringo wasn't hiding in the background (looking wary for some reason), but finding decent-quality photos is tough, and I liked how Martin has their attention. In the original photo, there's a pair of folded hands resting on the soundboard on the right: possibly Brian Epstein, I'm not sure. I removed them for composition's sake--sorry, Brian! Anyway, I think this one has a nice balance to it.

Done in ArtRage, using markers