Believe it or not, the image above is not a photograph but a photorealistic pencil drawing by 16-year-old Shania McDonagh. For the past four years, the young artist has taken home the first prize in her age category of Ireland's Texaco Children's Art Competition, and now her portrait Coleman has finally won her the contest's overall top prize.
Basing her drawing off a photo she found in a book of portraits Vanishing Ireland, McDonagh worked on this meticulous, close-up facial study for about a month. Her portrait of the wrinkly, laughing man contains so much detail that it truly does look photographic. That's why judges awarded her with the €1,500 (that's nearly $2070) prize and deemed her "one of the most talented artists of her generation," an award and praise well deserved.
[via FastCompany]
