Her stunning hyper-realistic pencil drawings can take up to 100 hours to complete—but the artist insists anyone can master the skill if they put in the practice.
Emma Towers-Evans first picked up a pencil when she was just two years old and said her love for drawing began after watching the film ‘Free Willy’ which inspired her to draw killer whales.
Now she creates incredible portraits of people and animals which are so realistic they look like photos.
The 29-year-old often completes the drawings on a large A1 or A0 paper and estimates each piece of artwork can have upwards of a half million individual pencil strokes.
Since the pandemic lockdown, she has been sharing videos showing her techniques on TikTok, which have racked up 265,000 followers and 4.5 million likes.
In some of popular videos she can been seen drawing portraits of well-known celebrities like Rhianna and Taylor Swift.
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The self-taught artist insists ‘anyone’ can master the craft if they put in the hours, after she saw her own skills improve after years of practice.
“I don’t believe people are ‘naturally talented’ when it comes to drawing,” says the artist from Stourbridge, West Midlands, in England.
“It’s taken me years of practice, patience, and dedication to get to where I am today.
“I think anyone can get to that level—you just need to have that same determination and self-belief.”
Emma loved drawing as a hobby during her childhood and teens, but never thought it would be a future career. But then, while attending the University of Surrey for music and sound recording, she began doing commissions, often drawing portraits of people’s pets.
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As her success continued, Emma decided to focus on drawing full-time and set-up her own website. Now the pencil artist sells her own original work and her subjects are often portraits of people.
25 percent of proceeds from sales of her big cat series of prints go toward to conservation charities like the Born Free Foundation and Lion Aid.
One of these portraits was based on Christian the Lion, a famous pet lion who was bought from Harrods in the 1970s—and Emma had permission from the photographer to sketch his photo.
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“It’s really exciting to see something come alive on the paper,” she continued.
Her videos on TikTok at @eteportraits capture each stage of her drawings (see video below). In one video, she shows the progression of a self-portrait that took 97 hours to complete.
“The first one I posted was a time lapse video of a portrait and I can’t believe how popular it’s become. The comments and support I get is amazing.”
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But, the self-taught artist is also encouraging others to pick up a pencil and give it a go.
“I think having that ability can be attainable for anyone. It’s just a case of knowing how to do it, which comes with lots of practice.”
“I think anyone can become an artist if they’ve got the time and patients.”
WATCH the video from SWNS – and follow Emma on Instagram…
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She has developed great artistic skills. But if you want realistic pictures, just take a photo and enlarge it, especially if you would rather be doing something else like gardening, cooking, writing or taking a nap.