Caesar rises again!

So I have done a bit of work on this "little" Ape Bust in between work and other commitments this week. I have also been posting up some WIPs of it on my Facebook page and it seems to becoming quite popular there with the hits and shares.

With that in mind, I was thinking maybe to show a bit more on here, and also some of the to be aspects of it. As I keep getting messages or posts asking if I will do warpaint and paint him like Caesar from Planet of the Apes.

Well.. actually.. YES! That was my first instinct thought when seeing this bust, and so I am really looking towards painting it up that way!

So I started with trying to create a bit of a scene with the socket before working on a rough sketch of color. My thoughts here are that the socket will be like an urban jungle. Like vegetation has overtaken part of the city.

Then the bust itself I started with some blacks ( using the Andrea Black set ) and trying to get a bit of a dark, moody vibe going with the bust.

Something akin to the movie poster as a basis..

Very dark.. lots of white/greys in it.. but then again looking at it.. that is probably mostly war paint on it.. so need to keep that in mind while painting it.

I did try to do the eyes like in the poster.. which look a bit more like human eyes than chimp eyes. So my first instinct was to follow suit there and paint them the same. Though the sculpt has a bit different angle to look, so I tried to make him to be looking down..

Ignore the color shift on his fur.. but the eyes came out too buggy and super psychotic here! Uber fail!

So back to google I went to check out other options and what a chimp/ape's eyes really look like.

This one picture was really good and clear for me to see..

Immediately what jumps out at me is that their eyes are actually black, with the brown iris around it. So I made a quick change on the bust to reflect this.. and although it might not as close to the movie poster, it is beginning to look closer to what I would like to achieve with the piece!

Now it is really starting to take shape for me.. and although again the photos are from my cell ( FB selfies of the monkey ) and the colors are washed out.. it can still be showing a sense of where it will go, and how it is shaping up.

I just need to begin to add a bit of flesh colors into the face and ears.. tinting them a bit before working the light/shadows more.

But with the slight change in how the eyes are now, it really changes the character and mood of the monkey. Going from angry surprised to dark energy angry with the newer eyes. Let's see how it progresses...

Need to work on it a bit more tonight and this weekend to see where it takes me. But I hope to have it completed soon!

Let me know your thoughts below... and if you think it is going on the right path now!