Portraits in Progress
Greg's portraits have almost always been created through the same process. Looking at photographs rather than live subjects, he would start with a blank piece of 8.5 x 11 plain white paper. Using regular pencils, a kneaded eraser & a ruler, he slowly but surely focuses on the darkest parts of the portrait, gradually moves to the lightest parts & then draws the eyes last. He typically spent between 25 and 60 hours on each portrait (They could have been completed in less time, but he intentionally did them in a slow, methodical process). Here (below) are two examples of portraits: In 2008, Greg drew a portrait of musician Vusi Mahlasela. Later that year, he drew portraits of both U.S. Presidential candidates (John McCain and Barack Obama). Scroll down to see the portraits of Mahlasela and McCain through various stages of progress. Click on the first image (the initial blank piece of paper) to start the gallery to watch the progression & to see captions indicating how many hours had elapsed at that point in the drawing process.
