In July, 2012, I felt inspired by listening to the latest Sixpence None The Richer album, Lost In Translation, to work on a new portrait of Leigh Nash. I’d drawn Leigh years ago in college for my sister-in-law Mim (who’s a huge fan) and then did another one just for […]
Category: Portraits
Tom Hiddleston “Loki” Freehand Colored Pencil and Graphite Drawing
As part of my Avengers series, I answered a few requests by working on this drawing of Tom Hiddleston as Loki over the summer. Like the other Avengers sketches, it was created using mostly regular graphite pencils with some colored pencil for his cape. Purchase link for prints: https://johndibiaseart.com/drawing-of-loki-tom-hiddleston-from-marvels-avengers
Process of a Portrait: Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)
My latest project is Mark Ruffalo and Hulk which takes my personal experimentation of mixed media to the next level. Here, I decided to do Ruffalo/Bruce Banner entirely in pencil and then fill in Hulk completely in color. The other challenge was merging two different pictures for the first time […]
Chris Hemsworth “Thor” Freehand Graphite and Colored Pencil Drawing
The third in this series was Thor, which came together relatively quickly. However, as you can probably gather by looking at the drawing, the details in his suit were a bit more time consuming. Again, I used pencil as well prismacolor pencils for the red cape. (This scan doesn’t quite […]
Robert Downey, Jr. as “Iron Man” Freehand Graphite and Colored Pencil Drawing
After Cap, I decided to tackle another Avenger. This time, I decided to aim for filling in Tony Stark’s “arc reactor” tech with blue colored pencil. The portrait of Tony… didn’t come easy. I worked and reworked and reworked this drawing and almost gave up on it at one point, […]
Chris Evans “Captain America” Freehand Graphite and Colored Pencil Drawing
Inspired by seeing “The Avengers” film, I got the sudden urge to try a pencil / colored pencil hybrid drawing. I was pretty pleased with the results, actually, so it encouraged me to keep this personal experiment going with further drawings…and continuing the Avengers theme! I used a varying degree […]
Stana Katic as Kate Beckett from “Castle” Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
After finishing up Rick Castle, I felt inspired to draw his muse, Kate Beckett. This was the next drawing in a rapid series of drawings that came around April 2012. Purchase link for prints: https://johndibiaseart.com/drawing-print-of-stana-katic-as-kate-beckett-on-tvs-castle Purchase link for the original – with Castle: https://johndibiaseart.com/original-drawings-of-nathan-fillion-and-stana-katic-from-tvs-castle-not-a-print
Nathan Fillion as Rick Castle Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
While I don’t watch much current TV, one show I do faithfully watch is Castle. As I was trying to think of new subjects–and after watching one of the last shows of this fourth season–I naturally thought of Nathan Fillion as Rick Castle. Lately, I’ve been trying more and more […]
Myrna Loy Freehand Graphite Pencil Portrait Drawing
This drawing of classic actress Myrna Loy, was completed at the end of April/early May 2012 and presented a different challenge. The soft look in the photo was a different texture than I usually work with, and simply using an ordinary paper napkin as a blending tool ended up serving […]
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly Freehand Graphite Pencil Portrait Drawing
After doing a marker drawing of Marty McFly, I had wanted to do a pencil portrait of one of my favorite film characters. After one attempt of a different source photo failed, I was pretty happy with this one’s outcome. And it’s another example of, what I feel is, drawing […]
Bill Murray “Peter Venkman” Ghostbusters Freehand Graphite Pencil Portrait Drawing
I believe this drawing was done last fall sometime, but it was a fun project. Aside from this film remaining at the top of my list of favorites, it was fun to experiment with a different size source photo… and then to decide whether or not I should add in […]
Harpo Marx Freehand Graphite Pencil Portrait Drawing
It’s no secret that Harpo Marx is one of my favorite classic actors. When I was unsure of what to choose as my next project, I opted for this gem of a photo as my next source. So here’s my second Harpo drawing… Purchase link for prints: https://johndibiaseart.com/harpo-marx-drawing-print-85-x-11
Steve Carell “Michael Scott” The Office Freehand Pencil Portrait Drawing
As a fan of Steve Carell and The Office, I’ve tried to do some drawings of Steve several times over the years (the closest “good” one I’ve done was from his Evan Almighty promo photos, but I don’t like it enough to share it 
). This sketch was completed […]
Han Solo Freehand Graphite Pencil Portrait Drawing
I’d started a drawing of Han Solo about eight or nine years ago, but never finished it. So last fall, while I couldn’t find the first drawing, I started a new one during a new season of drawings. This one is from Empire, I believe, and I used an array […]
Mr. Monk Gets a Pencil Portrait
Here is the latest pencil drawing. As usual, it was created on bristol board with various grades of pencil to provide various shades. I tried to keep layering it despite the temptation to just render it “finished” too early. However, I think I tend to over-do some drawings while under-doing […]
Daniel Craig as James Bond Pencil Drawing
With the release Cowboys & Aliens approaching, I felt it appropriate to take a stab at drawing Daniel Craig as James Bond. I’m in a mode where I’m really enjoying working on portraits again and in looking for new projects to start, I decided Craig would make a fine victim. […]
Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
After Amy’s June, 2011 birthday, I used one of the plates from our little family birthday party for her (yup! We decorated our dining room in Pirates 4 stuff) as a reference for a new pencil portrait. I had purchased a brand new pencil set earlier this year (6H to […]
Indiana Jones – via Marker
My second attempt to make a caricature of a person went pretty horribly wrong. This was originally supposed to be one of those… however, once I laid down the pencil groundwork and started to color it in, I loved the way it was looking as a more realistic color portrait. […]
Marty McFly Freehand Marker Drawing
Early 2011, I started getting into trying new art projects. I invested in some Prismacolor markers and tried working on some comic-book style artwork (using references) to stretch my abilities and venture outside my comfort zone. After completing my first ever marker-based portrait (I had sketched the person’s face in […]
Myrna Loy and William Powell Pencil Drawing
I drew this picture in December of 2009 as a gift for my wife Amy for Christmas. William Powell and Myrna Loy starred together in about eleven or twelve films together, six of which were part of the popular mystery comedies “The Thin Man.” I started this on a Saturday […]
Bill Murray as Peter Venkman Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
This drawing has been a long time coming. Back when I had done the drawing of Ray from “Ghostbusters,” I had wanted to also do this scene from the film. It’s when Bill Murray as Peter Venkman gets attacked by the ghost of Slimer. Iconic! I finally decided it was […]
Frank Sinatra Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
About a week or so before my Grandmother’s 80th birthday party in November, 2009, I put this drawing of Frank Sinatra on the fast track to get it done in time as a surprise gift for her. As a beyond-avid fan of Ole Blue Eyes, I couldn’t resist working on […]
Harpo Marx Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
This drawing of comedian Harpo Marx is actually probably my all-time favorite portrait I’ve done. I finished it 4/24/2005 (according to my scribbling on the back of it) and it has actually been hanging in my living room since then. It was drawn freehand from a photo of Harpo that […]
Cary Grant Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
I started this Cary Grant portrait in the end of April, 2005, while watching Antz on my laptop (2010 note: I get amusement out of re-reading what I was doing or watching or where I was while working on these drawings. It’s silly trivia, but it’s kind of funny to […]
Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” Pencil Drawing
Whew! This was a project. I started drawing this particular one on June 23, 2006. I worked on it a bit every few nights (I took progress shots with my cell phone camera. I may try to get those up on here sometime), but ultimately lost the drive and […]
Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz Pencil Drawing
“Venkman! Venkmaaaaan!” This portrait of Dan Akroyd from his role as Ray Stanz in Ghostbusters marked my return to portraits in 2004. It’s the first finished drawing I started probably since the Jim Caviezel sketch. While some drawings rested unfinished in a pad somewhere (including Harpo Marx, which thankfully I […]
Jim Carrey as ‘The Grinch’ Freehand Colored Pencil Drawing
I started this colored pencil drawing of Jim Carrey as The Grinch (2000) during my last semester of college at Northampton Community College in 2000. I remember often just sitting in the school’s cafeteria working on it. I found it a challenge to try to capture the color of the […]
Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon “Just Like Heaven” Pencil Drawing
For Christmas, 2004, I drew that picture from “Serendipity” for my wife Amy as one of her gifts. I was honestly shocked at how much she loved it. When I asked her why she liked that picture over others I’d done for her in the past, it was because I’d […]
Kate Winslet and Lloyd the Chipmunk Titanic Spoof Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
This used to be one of my all-time favorite portrait drawings — mainly because it’s something different than anything I’d done before and I liked the outcome (which is rare). I just love the fact that Lloyd is just hanging out in the same “world” as us. By the way, […]
Leonardo DiCaprio Titanic Jack Dawson Freehand Graphite Pencil Drawing
There were many reasons, originally, for a second Leonardo DiCaprio drawing. Although I don’t care for him much now, at the time, it sounded great for a… “sequel.” The first Leo drawing, the one I did for my cousin, was distributed to probably over 100 people and further. However, when […]