Plague Doctor!

In preparation for Halloween, I wanted to do a piece that will fit the atmosphere of the holiday and I've been itching to sketch up some plague doctor art for a while. Actually, I did draw several pieces on the subject earlier this year but they didn't turn out the way I wanted, so they wound up in the ever-growing reject pile.

But now I got it down right this time! At least I think so...the results are below:


The work-in-progress version. Credit is due to my awesome-possum Connor for the hand modeling. Initially, I shaded in the eyes with vertical stroke marks but replaced them with circular strokes to give the doc a more piercing gaze.


Aaaaand the finished version (both posted pics are intentionally lower res). Background has been darkened some since the scarlet in the WIP just wasn't cutting it for the end result. I've also toned down on the glow of the flame to accentuate the warm tones. Overall, I'm quite pleased with how the shading turned out on his proto-bio hazard suit, hat and gloves.

However, I'm also on the fence on whether to add in texture to the background (or overlay it over the entire illustration) or to leave it solid like some of my other Fidget Art! pieces. Thoughts?