Pencil Artist of the Week: Rick Fortson

This week’s featured pencil artist is Rick Fortson, a pencil artist who specializes in creating hyper-realistic pencil portraits. His DeviantArt profile is filled with his stunning pencil drawings and his website is loaded with pencil drawing lessons for artists of every skill level, making a visit to one of his sites a veritable clinic on pencil drawing. It’s no wonder why he’s taken to calling himself “Dr. Pencil.”

Rick began drawing as a teenager in the 1970s (he actually has a DeviantArt folder filled with his early works, which you can see here). Like many artists, Rick drew off and on for several years, until he eventually stopped drawing all together. Then, after 30 years away from his craft, Rick picked up a pencil again in 2008, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Though his early work consists of landscapes and still lifes, these days he spends his time creating breathtakingly realistic pencil portraits depicting celebrities and pop-culture icons. Rick is perhaps best-known for his drawings of the cast of Breaking Bad, which he presented to each cast member upon completion. It is amazing to see the subjects of Rick’s portraits holding their graphite reproductions, and it gives you an idea of just how accurate Rick’s drawings really are.

 Drawings by Pencil Artist Rick Fortson

[slider][pane]
[/pane][pane]

[/pane][pane]
[/pane][/slider]

If you want to see more of Rick’s work, head over to his DeviantArt profile. If you want to learn from the master himself, check out the pencil drawing lessons on his website.

What do you think of Rick’s art? Sound off in the comments section below!