“A picture is worth a thousand words,” and I believe that’s true. When I look at a photo, I can sense the kind of person someone might be and translate that impression onto paper.

Here’s a great photo I chose to turn into a portrait of my best friend. 

Sometimes, when a particular edit is needed, I use a digital collaging technique before drawing to make sure I have the perfect layout.

To create my portrait drawings, I alternate between the grid technique and tracing to establish clean, accurate guidelines before moving into the colouring stage. It feels almost like building my own colouring page as the foundation for the final artwork.

Sometimes, I also begin my sketches digitally so I can make adjustments more easily, then transfer the finished sketch to paper once I’m satisfied with the design.

Using a mix of markers and coloured pencils, I layer in the colours to create depth and bring the portrait to life in my own artistic style.

In this example, I worked with markers and pencil crayons, but I often use watercolour and gouache for my portrait pieces as well.