Why does Pope Mark look like Coca Cola's version of Santa Claus? I don't know, really. But I have a couple of theories:

1. I'm starting on the popes that oversaw the fall of the roman empire, and after that the 'dark ages.' The portraits that are available for me to draw from are getting pretty spares, and often I'm working from a small, blurry image of a mosaic. I end up making a few of the facial details up, or at least inferring them from the mosaic work.

2. Or maybe I'm just feeling the late fall chill - which in Hong Kong is 70 degrees at night. Brr!