Statement
I am a Pencil Portrait Artist, working with Graphite, Charcoal and Carbon pencils on A3 Smooth-Heavyweight cartridge paper. I love the texture the tooth of this paper gives to my art and the tonal values I can achieve blending with these pencils. I work to this size as it is easy to post using artists cardboard tubes for any commissions I earn.
I make this work because I am excited about portraiture, I am striving towards a hyperrealism genre and love creating a subject’s portrait to as near a photographic image as possible while still allowing my viewers to recognise it is a sketch. I am working on a “Legends Series” of portraits as these are instantly identifiable and enable the observer to determine the level of my craft. I also run a small hobby type business www.jimirvineportraits4you.co.uk which helps me achieve a steady flow of commissions.
My art is created using a reference photograph which I would enlarge to an A3 size. I draw a grid on the copy image and transfer that grid onto my cartridge paper outlining the subject and adding detail and tone until the artwork has been completed to my satisfaction.
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