John
Pencil on Paper - 14" x 11" - Copyright 1988

Perhaps I am revealing my age by expecting everyone to recognize this as a good example of my ability to draw a likeness (the guy's been dead for 30 years - yikes!), but it's also a good example of an "entry-level" portrait: just a simple pencil drawing on paper. I don't actually do much drawing like this anymore - my recent drawings look more like this - but I can certainly do drawings anywhere on a continuum between "pencilly" and "charcoally". (Incidentally, this drawing of Mr. Lennon is still available for US$ 500 - please inquire if you're interested: Jonathon@JonathonArt.com )

This drawing is obviously from the famous photo by Annie Leibovitz, and so was excellent source material - which always makes the artist's job easier (and cheaper - I'll charge extra to spend hours inventing an improvement of a bad photo). The photograph you provide may not be as good, and that's OK; I can make a bad photograph better, but I can't guarantee that a terrible photograph will magically become a Leibovitz-quality portrait by virtue of nothing more than my creative machinations. So, if at all possible, provide the best picture you can...and NO flash photography - the flattening full-frontal flash light makes for terrible drawings! This drawing took less than a day to complete.