18-Year-Old Artist’s Amazingly Realistic Drawings of Celebrities

Although these images may look like snapshots of celebrities, they’re actually the handiwork of Jack Ede, an 18-year-old artist who creates amazingly photorealistic portraits. Using graphite, colored pencils, and rubber erasers for blending, the UK-based teen crafts extraordinarily lifelike depictions of stars such as Morgan Freeman, Bryan Cranston, and Robin Williams.

Ede decided to quit school and pursue art full-time after his drawing of Harry Styles went viral, earning him tens of thousands of followers and new commission requests. Another one of his most well-known celebrity portraits is a stunning rendering of Morgan Freeman, which took him 137 hours of painstaking work. Using a hi-res photo of the actor, Ede meticulously recreated each tiny detail, from the wrinkles and freckles on Freeman’s skin, to his graying coils of hair, to the look of quiet dignity in his piercing eyes. The young artist’s process (below), which he shared on Instagram, shows how Freeman’s likeness gradually bloomed across the paper as if by magic.

Morgan Freeman