My Creative Neighbourhood – Pencil portraiture

This is where I look around at my fellow artists and highlight some of the wonderful things they’ve been up to recently. Anything that catches my eye, rattles my brain, or drops my jaw ends up here. Things I feel I need company in oggling at and admiring. If it’s here, it’s good.

Please note: All the images in this post do not belong to me (except the ‘My Creative Neighbourhood’ icon above). Each image has been attributed to its author. Please visit their webpages to enjoy more of their wonderful work.

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After dipping my hand back into portraiture a couple of weeks ago with my sketch of KJ, I thought I would poke around my creative neighbourhood and look for some magic pencil wielders. For I know my portraiture skills are minimal and there are some true masters out there. I certainly found some.

Gaya stuns me with hir three dimensionality. I adore the eye in this piece and the subtle beard and stubble. The amount of time this must have taken hurts my brain. I used to aim for this kind of perfection, but I have come the conclusion that it is just not in me and am now aiming elsewhere. This does not stop me from drooling over the beauty of a piece like this.

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The fact that this is even pencil is enough to amaze me. Apart from the fact that I quite like Daniel Craig 😀 this piece is just stunning. The astonishing skill of Matthew Leader is the responsible culprit and I’m still sitting here trying to work out how he created such a perfect texture on the man’s skin. Again the eyes are wonderful. I’m a sucker for a good set of eyes 😀

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Paul Brady‘s Charles Bronson abounds in texture and emotion. A great use of contrast and that texture gives the pencil work energy. He has a stunning collection of portraits in his portfolio. Well worth a gander.

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Allan Youl has a whole series of montage works in portraiture. This Marilyn Monroe piece is a good example of his free and vibrant technique. I particularly like his use of montage. It is very effective.

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Last, but certainly not least, I had to include this piece. Not graphite pencil, coloured pencil, but I couldn’t resist.  A beautiful example of Juan Jose Outeda‘s wonderful portraiture works.

One thing that has been brought to my attention during this adventure into perfect portraiture is how many different forms ‘perfect’ can take. All of the above could be mistaken for photographic work, yet each of them have distinct styles and techniques. Good examples of the differences that separate traditional media from modern photography. Both have unique beauty and neither can replace the other.

Nutty
(still drooling)