Domestika Challenge: Draw Your Favourite James Bond

This month we’re celebrating one of the UK’s best-loved characters – James Bond

The latest and much-anticipated Bond instalment No Time To Die hits our screens this month. As the final Bond film that Daniel Craig will star in, and after multiple delays in its release, we wanted to mark the occasion.

To celebrate one of Britain’s best-loved characters, we’ve asked some of our favorite UK-based character and portrait illustrators to recreate their favourite 007. They call him Bond, James Bond, and they call themselves Teachers, Domestika Teachers…

Sammy Khalid

Dublin-based Sammy Khalid (@sammy_khalid) is a freelance concept artist who creates production artwork for character and creature designs, as well as creating environments, props, and vehicles which serve as a visual representation of final ideas for a production. His clients have included BBC, Warner Brothers, and Netflix and he’s worked on titles such as Black Mirror, His Dark Materials, and Disney’s Artemis Fowl.

No Time To Die will be Daniel Craig’s fifth film to star in, and he happens to be Sammy’s favorite Bond of all time. He says “there’s no other Bond like him... he looks like he’d kick your ass.” He wanted to celebrate him by recreating that iconic scene from Casino Royale, in which Bond walks out of the sea.

He says it usually takes him several attempts to make someone in his work look like a specific person, but he’ll start by creating the main shapes and form, often exaggerating these, before fine-tuning to get it as close to the real person as possible without compromising his signature style. Here, Sammy plays on Daniel Craig’s muscular physique and head shape to create a Bond we certainly wouldn’t mess with.

Dan Kelby

After leaving college, character designer Dan Kelby (@dankelby) originally worked as a graphic designer until he discovered the world of animation. Based in Norwich, UK, he freelances in the animation, gaming, and entertainment industries. His clients have included Netflix, Disney Television Animation, Cartoon Network, and Passion Pictures.

For Dan, “devilishly handsome” Roger Moore has always stood out as the best Bond actor. As a character designer, Dan’s goal is always to bring out the true essence and personality of his subject, so he pays close attention to Roger Moore’s famously arched eyebrow.

He works in Procreate to build the figure and features, then refines them. He jokes that “the concept of going back to traditional drawing is a little bit scary, because I have the undo button with digital,” but we can’t see anything in his brilliant picture of Roger Moore that we’d dream of deleting.

Chris Gambrell

Chris Gambrell (@chris_gambrell) is an artist and fashion illustrator whose work explores form, color, and texture. He has worked with large European fashion houses and magazines, and in 2020 was selected by Vogue as one of seven artists to draw their favorite looks from the magazine’s runway archives.

In our James Bond challenge, Chris uses pastels for his interpretation of Sean Connery. He doesn’t use black or white “because they’re not traditionally seen as colors,” but instead builds shade into his illustration by mixing blue and red. He loves using pastel pencils because of the freedom that comes with them, and says you can “keep the ingredients raw by not committing to anything too much until the end.”

Not only does Chris produce a beautiful picture of Sean Connery, but his impression of the actor is also something not to be missed. It really is very good.

Sam Brisley

Sam Brisley (@bris1985) is a portrait artist based in Birmingham, UK, who is known for creating dynamic portraits with a strong focus on shadows and lighting. He believes that learning the fundamentals of drawing and portraiture are important ways to unlock creative potential and allow your individual style to develop.

His chosen Bond is Pierce Brosnan who starred in Golden Eye, which was the first Bond film Sam remembers watching.

Although he sometimes uses other mediums, Sam admits he finds it frustrating to use anything but his trusted pencil and paper, so he uses these simple materials to create his detailed version of a very suave Piers.

You may also like:

- 10 Creative Challenges To try At Home
- Challenge: Create An Illustration Using Only The color Blue
- Challenge: 3 Fun Ways To Stimulate Creativity
- Character Design: Develop Your Own Style, a course by Dan Kelby