Robert Martel | Illustrator

originally posted February 13, 2018

This past October and November I focused on producing quickly rendered portraits. I wanted to improve the accuracy of rendering a likeness while maintaining a fast pace. I used a 2H pencil and, depending on the image, I allowed myself 10-15 minutes maximum for each sketch. Above and below are examples of some the portraits I produced.

Note: while the sketches are my own, the photographs used for reference do not belong to me and were sourced from Google Images. At the time, I did not make note of the photographers’ names but I can with certainty identify the fourth sketch as based on a photograph of actress Natalie Portman, and third sketch as based on a 19th century photograph labeled simply as “Cherokee Nanyehi, Lakota.”