The purpose of this project was to incorporate Strand Magazine illustrator Sidney Paget's idea of Holmes, and evolve it from basically a fashion magazine cartoon to the actual closest approximation of the Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's head.
In the first story of the canon, A Study In Scarlet, Doyle describes him thus: "His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. ...he was so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing...and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination."
My process was to take the most detailed picture of Holmes from Sidney Paget's illustrative work (difficult to find one, admittedly) and work with it, adding enough detail to get at least a comic book approximation of Holmes, in the first pencil study.
Then, using an actor model whose placement of facial features and skeletal frame approximated the closest description of Holmes, in this case Adrian Brody, I used his basic facial shape and added/altered the features which Conan Doyle described in his literature.
Myth busted #1: Sherlock was NOT SEXY. He was an egghead with very odd looking features. Conan Doyle did reiterate later on in life that Holmes was anything but handsome; rather, he was *striking*. Doyle was apathetic to the more romantic depictions of Holmes in theatre.
So here's my as-realistic-as-possible reconstruction of Doyle's canon Holmes, aged between 35 and 45. Ish. Sidney Paget illustration for comparison.
Fig 1: Sidney Paget's original illustration:
Fig.2: My take on the Paget illustration as study 1, and the larger more realistic study 2.
Fig.3: Study 2.
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