Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Dylan Eakin: Master of Charcoal Photorealism

 After the invention of the camera, there was a question about the need for artists to paint fine detail anymore. After all, portraits of wealthy people with their riches on display could be memorialized by the camera. Yet, certain artists continued to work successfully in the technique of photorealism. 


 

 

These artists caused viewers to wonder in the hand/eye skills of the fine details no matter how subtle. The technique brought into photorealism the knowledge of art, draftsmanship and media such as paint or pencils. (

 

 

Recently, I learned of an artist, Dylan Eakin, who uses charcoal as the base for his portraits. Charcoal for photorealism seemed messy and inexact.  Eakin, who graduated in sculpture, but by 2016 began to train himself in charcoal portraiture also uses graphite for fine detail. 



With the amount of detail that each piece requires, Eakin spends about 200 hours on a single 18"x24" piece. That is the equivalent of almost a month!

Here are examples of his portraits of  faces and hands... truly a master!







2 comments:

  1. Oh my word, he is an incredible artist. I have always loved photorealism. I’ve seen some Richard Estes and Audrey Flack, just last year at an exhibit in NC. It’s nice to read about another artist doing this type of art. Thank you for posting.

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    1. Always my pleasure to share extremely talented (often innovative) artists.

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