H.I. McDunnough

H.I. McDunnough, originally uploaded by paul.covello.

"What, are you kiddin'? We got us a family here!"

I love the Coen Brothers' films, most to the point of obsession, and they are probably my all-time favourite directors. So I've started a project where I'll try to draw every single character from their films. By that I mean not only the main cast members, but every person who appears on screen! (or maybe just those featured prominently or with speaking parts...)

Now I'm not sure how often I'll add to this collection and it's a daunting task I've set for myself, but I really hope to build my caricature, digital colouring and inking skills along the way.

First up is one of my favourite characters: H.I. McDunnough played by Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona. Part of why I love this film is because it's a bit like a live action cartoon. So to match this I tried to give H.I. a wiry, elastic quality when I was drawing him and wanted to keep his design as simple as I could. I also love Nic Cage's expressions of anxiety when he's corralling the babies in the film, so I tried to reproduce that as well.