adamdrivemecrazy10-30

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #143 (no sleep til brooklyn)

Adam, tendrils of hair curling out from under his baseball hat and twining around his ears, gaze soft, eyes curving into happy crescents, cheeks rumpled by dimples, lips pressed together and pulled wide by his smile, his upper lip and chin stippled by stubble.

Bundled up for a long distance road trip in his rain coveralls, baseball hat, camelbak water reservoir, and his helmet (held bashfully behind him), Adam had stopped at a motorcycle dealer and repair shop in Pennsylvania to get a bit of help. Apparently the throttle on his Road Glide ST wasn't working properly, but the shop was able to get it fixed up and get him back on the road home to Brooklyn. At some point he took a moment to have his photo taken with an employee, which was then promptly shared on facebook, much to the surprise and delight of the Driver Hive.

Adam looks like he's quietly fizzing with happiness, his smile soft but sincere, crinkled and furrowed around the edges. He's relatively clean-shaven for the first time in what might have been nearly a year (the last time I could verify he didn't have a beard was in May of 2024, at Cannes), but his silver-sparked stubble is long enough that it looks like it had maybe been a couple of days since he'd last shaved, which always makes the pretty epic scar on the right corner of his chin especially noticeable. He's standing with his right shoulder higher and closer to the camera, the lowered left shoulder hidden by his torso, and is turning his head to the right and dipping his chin just a touch; there's a sharp line on the right side of his jaw that marks where the rain gear is gently pinned by his tucked chin. I love the riot of curls gleefully escaping from under the baseball cap, including the one tiny tendril I found hiding in the shadows on his forehead. The lighting in this one was a little unusual, with just his right cheek, tip of his nose, and chin being the best lit by a mix of the shop's overhead lighting and what I suspect was a wall of windows to his right, as well as reflected light gleaming on the underside and left side of the tip of his nose and along the edge of his left cheek, but the rest being shaded by his hat and the tilt of his head.

Photo used for reference taken and shared by Roundhouse Harley-Davidson in Duncansville, Pennsylvania on 3 May 2025.

About 8 hours of work on this one, it was such a sweetly potato reference that there weren't many fine details to render. 

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #142 (HOTMD cast party)

Adam, caught running his right hand through his hair, head tilted and eyes soft as he looks down and to his left, a smile gently rumpling his dimples, bearded lips parted to reveal a peek of teeth, the taut tendon of his neck pulling at the collar of his shirt.

It was opening night for "Hold On To Me Darling", and Adam was deep in conversation with another person at the cast party celebrating that first official show. His outfit, a lightweight white silk sweater under a black blazer, looks classy but comfortable, literally less buttoned up than his usual choice of a collared dress shirt. I have no idea who he was speaking to, or what they were talking about, but I'd have to hazard that he was enjoying himself; absolutely everything about his body language is calm and engaged, and his expression looks nearly as soft as the knit of that sweater.

His forehead is unfurrowed, brow unknitted, the worry lines worn by time gently evident but not actively engaged. His eyes are hooded by relaxed upper lids, and the muscles just below are pursed with good humor, his crow's feet crinkling at the crest of his cheekbones, dimples bracketing the gentle smile crooking the corners of his mouth. I have to say that is the fullest I think I've ever seen his lower lip look, I must have checked to be sure I was rendering that faithfully at least a dozen times.

Photo used for reference was taken by Emilio Madrid at the cast party after the opening night performance of "Hold On To Me Darling" on 16 Oct 2024. Despite being insanely high resolution, it was also very blurry, and I had to fight against the urge to too faithfully reproduce what looks like a bit of filtering applied by the photographer to claw back some of the detail lost to the blur.

About 11.5 hours of painting time. I probably could have leaned into the softness of it all a bit more.

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman in BlacKkKlansman (2018)

My GIF masterlist

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #141 (Burberry Hero 4.0)

Adam, caught in a contemplative moment, right shoulder dipped down as his face is tipped up and to his left, brow gently knitted over a distant gaze as he searches for the words to express his thoughts, mouth pursed, his lips and chin wreathed by the soft brush of his beard, the strong column of his neck framed by the curls of his hair kissing the open collar of his shirt.

In an ironic twist, Adam was musing on how heroism plays a role in acting, having just declared that "acting is doing something and not worrying about how it looks ... you have to risk being unattractive and ugly", when he paused to gather his thoughts for a fraction of a second while holding this unabashedly beautiful pose. 

It's the kind of pose that sang it's siren contrapposto song to so many renaissance painters, the tilt of his shoulders and tip of his head leading our eyes across the page and up to his gaze. The look in his eyes is soft as he mulls over his phrasing, with his right eye narrowed just a smidge more than the left, his lower eyelid tensed upward near the inner corner just a tiny bit. His mouth is pursed around the thought, his lips crinkled as he rounds them to speak. He's not smiling, but you can see where his dimple would furrow his cheek if he were, his skin holding the memory of the rumple, a fine crease marking the groove. Some of that is age carving it's marks upon his face, but I think it's more a result of how lean he was when this was filmed; we saw a lot of that fold on his cheek in photos of him from fall 2019, but when he's more sleek, like at the 2023 Venice FF 4 years later, it's much less prominent. 

Many of the moles and freckles on the crest of his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose are lost to video blur and the bright shine of the light on his face, but the angle of that light is gentler on his throat, revealing a plethora of details to appreciate. And let's be honest, this is as much a portrait of his neck as it is of his face. The speckled spangle of moles, that deep hollow above his clavicle, the sinuous trace of a vein along the side of the taut line of his sternocleidomastoid muscle, the twining valley of what might be a scar just under his Adam's apple, and the white line of another a bit more than one of his finger's widths below that, as well as the skin texture a neck has with all it's folds and furrows.

The reference for this one was a screenshot of an actual blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the short video (you'll find it at 0:52, if you're curious) that Adam filmed as part of the promotion for Burberry Hero's "Intense" parfum, which was released in March 2025.

About 15.5 hours of painting time. I switched overlays at the last possible moment and agonized over that for a little while, but I like this one just a tiny bit better.

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #140 (Cannes 2024)

Adam, resplendent in his gleaming white tux, artfully tousled silver shot waves of hair haloed by fine flyaways, forehead unfurrowed, brow faintly knit over eyes glancing to his left with keen attention, the firm press of his inward rolled lips rumpling his chin, the turn of his head carving deep folds into his neck.Most of the photos from Cannes 2024 show an unusually jolly Adam, joking with his costars with a broad smile on his face and actually waving amiable greetings to the walls of photographers lining the sides of the red carpet. He was fairly beaming with bonhomie, a departure from our more typically reticent relentless hillock, and it was lovely to get to see him so relaxed and having such a good time while looking like an actual prince on his wedding day in that stunning white tux.

This was a quieter moment, a little eddy in the swirling spectacle of the cast's grand procession to the premiere, and Adam's expression is one of watchful waiting; his gaze is alert but unworried, focused on something or someone at a bit of a distance from him, and it feels almost like he's looking for a cue. His expression is mostly carefully blank, with the exception of his mouth, which has his lips rolled together in what the Driver Hive has collectively dubbed, "The Mouth Thing."

It's a distinctive tic of his, much like stroking the underside of his chin with the backs of his fingers when he's bearded, or the way he'll touch his lips with the tips of his fingers when searching for a word or phrase, and I'm always delighted when someone manages to get a good photo of him doing it.

Photo used for reference taken by an unknown to me photographer at the red carpet for the premiere of "Megalopolis" at the Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2024. Pangaeastarseed asked if I'd like to play the "two cakes" game with it, where we both use the same reference to make our own versions, and of course I said YES! They finished their rendition MONTHS ago because they are awesome and you can see it here.

About 66 hours of painting time because I absolutely fell down the skin texture rabbit hole. Details that I especially enjoyed finding along the way include, but are not limited to, all those silver hairs shining on the crown of his head, that one incredibly long eyebrow hair curling down toward his eye, the reflection of the glass canopy above him in his eyes, the tracks of his quiescent crinkles by the corner of his eye, the way his rolled lips make the bristles of his stubble stand at attention just below his lower lip, the light catching on the impossibly tiny hairs along the bridge of his nose and in the stubble along the edge of his chin, and the stray white fibers on the back of his tux collar.

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Soft Saturday 😌

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Since we know the plot of new comics with Kylo and that he will get imprisoned by the hutts on Tatooine I just had to get this art out of my system! I mean, if it does not happen then what's the point? 😂

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #139 (HOTMD stage door, 26 Sep 2024)

Adam, limned by the light from the theater marquis, head tilted, hair teased into finger-combed tangles, the direct intensity of his gaze softened by the smile crinkling his crow's feet and quirking the corners of his mouth, dimples gently rumpled, light sparking in the whiskers wreathing his mouth and chin, his glasses tucked casually into the collar of his soft dark tee.

Adam really did feed the Rats, on schedule, for 13 weeks straight. His generosity in sharing so much of his time and attention on that sidewalk outside the Lortel meant that there was an embarrassment of riches as far as anecdotes, photos, and video clips, a treasure trove that in other times might have remained buried in scattered fragments in private photo collections. 

But I'm happy to say that the "Hold On To Me Darling" era is a shining example of the generosity of spirit that demonstrates the power of fandom at it's best. The spontaneous sharing of those bits of documentation, both right there on the pavement and online, made this a communal experience. In a day and age where everyone has a camera, we essentially have a crowdsourced recording of every stage door appearance, and stitching all of that together has left us with an enormous quilt of joy, witnessed, supported, and amplified by a community linked by their shared enthusiasm. I can't thank the source accounts enough for their service in sharing posts and celebrating with us so that everyone, regardless of their ability to actually attend the play, got to experience the extended emotional rush that is a theater run.

I made it all of one week after Adam made his final stage-door farewell before I was missing that emotional rush pretty fiercely; reminiscing on the year gone by had me flipping through my photos from that week in late September, remembering how much fun I'd had and all the incredible people I'd gotten to meet, one of whom happens to be the subject of this painting. This painting, which only exists because another one of those people, that I'd met in person just 3 hours earlier, was so kind and generous as to immediately share what she'd recorded.

Adam is making his gracious exit out of our little stage-door moment with him, being sure to make solid eye contact with me so that I felt the sincerity of his softly spoken "thank you" down to the roots of my bones. He'd been running his hand through his hair, leaving the forelock a bit tangled where he'd pushed it back up on top of his head, the end of it draggling a little alongside his face. His head is tilted a little to his left and his gaze, for all of it's direct intensity, is very soft; the lower eyelids pursed as they curve upwards with his gentle smile. The blurry nature of my reference, a still frame from a cell phone video clip taken at night from 10 feet away, means that smaller details like his moles are merely suggestions, but I love how the light from the light over the stage door shines on the right side of his face; it sparkles in his eyes, catches on the textures along the bridge of his nose, gently limns the underside of his nose and the brush of his whiskers, and runs along the swell of his lower lip, leaving his left side lit by the gentle glow of the streetlight.

I am so thankful to have that little video clip, and for the unrecorded memories I have with all those wonderful people I met that week. If I'm entirely honest, "missing HOTMD hours" is really "missing my Rat friends and our adventures together". So much of the joy of fandom really is the people you meet along the way!

The reference for this one was a frame from a video clip taken by mbee4 at the stage door on 26 Sep 2024, and was used with her permission. Thank you so much, M!

About 7 hours of painting time for this one; there were a number of background elements that I ended up deciding to simplify out of existence, and I fussed at it a bit and had probably three "final" versions before I finally made myself walk away. And, once again, I was unable to resist the allure of my "sodium lamp remix" color gradient map. I was hoping for this to be the last piece of the year, celebrating a moment that is THE highlight of 2024 for me, but instead it gets to be the joyful first work of 2025.

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

reblog the money pigeon for a financially stable future

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Happy 10th to Phillip Altman! 🥂 'This Is Where I Leave You' was released 10 years ago on Sept 19, 2014.

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Part 22/Scene VII

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #139 (HOTMD stage door, 26 Sep 2024)

Adam, limned by the light from the theater marquis, head tilted, hair teased into finger-combed tangles, the direct intensity of his gaze softened by the smile crinkling his crow's feet and quirking the corners of his mouth, dimples gently rumpled, light sparking in the whiskers wreathing his mouth and chin, his glasses tucked casually into the collar of his soft dark tee.

Adam really did feed the Rats, on schedule, for 13 weeks straight. His generosity in sharing so much of his time and attention on that sidewalk outside the Lortel meant that there was an embarrassment of riches as far as anecdotes, photos, and video clips, a treasure trove that in other times might have remained buried in scattered fragments in private photo collections. 

But I'm happy to say that the "Hold On To Me Darling" era is a shining example of the generosity of spirit that demonstrates the power of fandom at it's best. The spontaneous sharing of those bits of documentation, both right there on the pavement and online, made this a communal experience. In a day and age where everyone has a camera, we essentially have a crowdsourced recording of every stage door appearance, and stitching all of that together has left us with an enormous quilt of joy, witnessed, supported, and amplified by a community linked by their shared enthusiasm. I can't thank the source accounts enough for their service in sharing posts and celebrating with us so that everyone, regardless of their ability to actually attend the play, got to experience the extended emotional rush that is a theater run.

I made it all of one week after Adam made his final stage-door farewell before I was missing that emotional rush pretty fiercely; reminiscing on the year gone by had me flipping through my photos from that week in late September, remembering how much fun I'd had and all the incredible people I'd gotten to meet, one of whom happens to be the subject of this painting. This painting, which only exists because another one of those people, that I'd met in person just 3 hours earlier, was so kind and generous as to immediately share what she'd recorded.

Adam is making his gracious exit out of our little stage-door moment with him, being sure to make solid eye contact with me so that I felt the sincerity of his softly spoken "thank you" down to the roots of my bones. He'd been running his hand through his hair, leaving the forelock a bit tangled where he'd pushed it back up on top of his head, the end of it draggling a little alongside his face. His head is tilted a little to his left and his gaze, for all of it's direct intensity, is very soft; the lower eyelids pursed as they curve upwards with his gentle smile. The blurry nature of my reference, a still frame from a cell phone video clip taken at night from 10 feet away, means that smaller details like his moles are merely suggestions, but I love how the light from the light over the stage door shines on the right side of his face; it sparkles in his eyes, catches on the textures along the bridge of his nose, gently limns the underside of his nose and the brush of his whiskers, and runs along the swell of his lower lip, leaving his left side lit by the gentle glow of the streetlight.

I am so thankful to have that little video clip, and for the unrecorded memories I have with all those wonderful people I met that week. If I'm entirely honest, "missing HOTMD hours" is really "missing my Rat friends and our adventures together". So much of the joy of fandom really is the people you meet along the way!

The reference for this one was a frame from a video clip taken by mbee4 at the stage door on 26 Sep 2024, and was used with her permission. Thank you so much, M!

About 7 hours of painting time for this one; there were a number of background elements that I ended up deciding to simplify out of existence, and I fussed at it a bit and had probably three "final" versions before I finally made myself walk away. And, once again, I was unable to resist the allure of my "sodium lamp remix" color gradient map. I was hoping for this to be the last piece of the year, celebrating a moment that is THE highlight of 2024 for me, but instead it gets to be the joyful first work of 2025.

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Adam Driver #138 (HOTMD stage door, 5 Oct 2024)

Adam, haloed by the lights under the theater marquee, gaze glancing down and to his left, crow's feet crinkled and eyes narrowed into joyful crescents, the bridge of his nose curved by the pull of the delighted smile rumpling his dimples and parting lips framed by the soft bristles of his goatee to reveal his slightly snaggly teeth, the open neck of his casually unbuttoned shirt revealing the column of his neck and hollow at the base of his throat.

And just like that, it's time to say farewell to the "Hold On To Me Darling" era; our understanding, gentle, and tall redwood has faded back into the mists of daily (relative) anonymity after 13 weeks of being in the spotlight, just in time for him to celebrate the holidays with his family.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss getting to see Adam's smiling face 5 nights a week, hearing his laugh and his ever sincere "thank you very much" with the eternal refrain of, "sure sure sure" as he would gently pluck phones from fan's hands to take a steady photo for them, and getting to read the delighted stories of those who got to experience the gentle intensity of his focused regard. It really was magic of the most marvelous sort, and a true feast for the soul.

He's more than earned his respite, however, having led every single performance through the entire run, without even having an understudy in reserve. And, despite having more than one round of some kind of cold as the show went on, Adam's happy dedication to meeting the fans at the stage door never wavered so long as the weather held mostly clear; the only kind of weather that meant he was running for the car was when it was properly raining. Otherwise he was out there, bare-headed and -handed, even in the bitter cold, and it seemed like he took extra time on those chilly days to be sure to get to everyone who waited so patiently.

And so, as much as I'll miss him, I hope Adam thoroughly disappears for at least a few weeks; may he get some quiet time to snooze on a warm sunny beach with his loved ones, somewhere far away from the limelight, and recharge his batteries so he can go give his exceptional best to his next project.

The reference for this one was a photo taken at the stage door of the Lucille Lortel Theater in the West Village of NYC on 5 Oct 2024 by CinnamonChopSticks, and was used with her generous permission. Thank you so much, Cinn!!

About 11 hours of painting time for this one. Most of his moles are more like suggestions due to the blur, but I was amused that I could still see the way his moustache hairs curl down over his lip, thinned by the width of that smile, to shadow his teeth. Finding the balance between rendering the details I could see, especially around his eyes, with the softness of the overall feeling of the reference was a challenge. And once again, I just couldn't resist using a color gradient map, so there is a bonus "sodium lamp remix" version, too.

Peace, joy, love, and sweet healing rest to all of you in this holiday season!

[adamdrivemecrazy10-30]

Megalopolis (2024)