Thankyou soooooo much for voting me first place in Portrait Pencil Arts "Young and the Old" competition


Wow! Thank you to for featuring this piece in her "Realistic People 2" article [link] What an honour!

and thank you to for featuring it in her Black and white article! [link]

and thank you to for featuring it in her journal

Click here to view the finished piece, I wanted to alter the cheek, but time ran away so I couldn't do it before the competition ended [link]

This piece was inspired by the title "The Young and the Old" for the contest for Portrait Pencil Art [link] After reading that title, what else could I draw

That is when I decided to do a piece for my Mum. It shows her Dad and my son, so in the picture is a Great Grandfather and Great Grandson.

This picture was drawn from an old and grainy 6" x 4" photograph taken 12 years ago, shortly before my Grandfather passed away, and is very precious. Especially since my Mum lost most of her old photos in a waterleak. So I have done this as a Christmas present for her.

In the short year that my son could spend with his Great Grandfather, their favourite game was:

"Aaaaaaaaaah.........BOO!"

(Basically, while they were cuddling like this, my gramp would look up to the sky and say a very long and quiet "Aaaaaah", my son would wait expectantly until all of a sudden, my Gramp would look straight at my son and say "BOO!" then my son would giggle hysterically)

It took approximately 22 hours, the longest by far I have ever spent on a piece, and I wish I could start again on their faces.

It is on A4 cartridge 150gsm. I used an assortment of pencils from 9B to 4H, 0.5mmm 2b mechanical pencil, a blender, tissues, a putty rubber and a cheap sharp rubber.

It was my entry for The Portrait Pencil Club : competition "The Young and the Old"

I have now mounted the drawing to put in a frame and put the piece to bed! here is a link to the slightly altered version (neatened the babies cheek) [link] Total time now taken 24 hours.

I gave it to my Mum (early Christmas present so that she could see the beautiful journal features) and she was delighted.