The origin of these sketches started off as a Zbrush sculpt for a witch funny enough...
I'd been trying to sculpt something based on the old Baba Yaga myth a while back, really struggling to sculpt the witches hair - it strangely ended up looking like dreadlocks....so, I covered the hair with a shawl type affair..
This isn't that Baba Yaga witch though! - but I loved the shawl idea and have carried that through with some development sketches for a possible painting.
After a slightly hectic week handing in some paintings, I've been doodling a wee bit to unwind...
Like many 80's kids, I grew up completely nutty about those Henson/Froud movie collaborations (I still scour the internet for info on that next Dark Crystal movie!) A lot of my sketch work is definitely influenced by those guys.
The sketch above originally had a large raven perched on his neck branch, but looking slightly wonky, I've removed him...