Derren Brown

I've chosen Cate Blanchett because a) I'm a big fan, and b) it's more of a challenge to caricature attractive women, (and one which I haven't taken up in a while).

She is unusual in that she's attractive but has very strong features. She has large ears which she doesn't try to hide, a sizeable nose, and her eyes are not large. However, they are widely-set which, coupled with her superb cheek-bones, give her her beauty.

Her long neck and the fact that we imagine her as fairly tall help with the air of regality she carries. All this is a blessing, as I know the caricature will be amusing, enjoyable to paint, and not too difficult.

I gather together some photographs of her and make a pencil sketch directly onto a large canvas.

I don't consciously exaggerate anything: I just sketch what I see. This is how I see people; and it's always given me a good memory for faces.

However, I wasn't entirely sure about the likeness, and wasn't sure what was wrong. I left it for a day or so to look at and get some distance from it, and watched segments of Lord of the Rings to see her face animated. I guessed it would come together as I painted.

I get some colour onto the canvas. They always look terrible at this point.

I sharpen up the eyes, which makes the picture far more life-like, and work in rough highlights and darker areas.

It starts to look like a proper painting, though very rough, and I get a clearer sense of where it's going.

Over the next steps I soften the tones to produce something more life-like, through brushing over the face with a soft brush bearing just a little of the basic colour on it. It brings the highlights down and the darker areas back up, and much of the contrast is lost.

I then apply finer areas of highlight and shade, and the result is a far more defined and subtly-graded image.

I think about a background and decide I can be a little crueller with the ears.

With some dark shadows giving a more of a definition, and the hair worked on a little, it looks a lot better.

Ears are always fun to paint. I've also given her a jaw, and I realise that's what was missing at the start.

Some slight blue highlights on her right side lift the face a little more, and I take great pleasure in painting her knobbly collar-bone.

More details are added (which are lost on these pictures): the eyes are worked on, and finishing touches are made.

I give her a blue background to match her eyes: a small point of flattery which I'm sure would delight her. She also gets a cleavage.

In saving it for the website, I also lift the saturation a little which gives it more of a sense of the original. Ta-da.