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Watch 20-Year-Old Self-Taught Artist Heather Rooney Create Unbelievable Portrait Drawings [Videos]

By Dawn Papple
Published on: 04:32 PST, May 24, 2014

The featured video, uploaded by photo-realism artist Heather Rooney, documents the step-by-step process Heather took to create the portrait drawing of celebrity Matt Smith, the actor who played the the 11th incarnation of The Doctor on the BBC’s Doctor Who. Though Matt Smith recently departed as a Time Lord, he is arguably one of the most popular of all of the Doctors, and even plans to stir up a little “timey wimey” action of his own to appear in the show again, Radio Times reported. Heather Rooney starts the portrait drawing out by sketching the first feature that shocked the character: “Hair – I’m a girl!” Amazingly, before Heather Rooney even began drawing Matt Smith’s face, the portrait drawing was already recognizable by the Prismacolor impressions of Matt Smith’s attractive “girl hair.”

Ten seconds into Heather Rooney’s time-lapse video where she draws Norman Reedus, the beloved AMC’s Walking Dead character Daryl Dixon was already recognizable as Heather begins a picture-perfect hand-drawn image of the Walking Dead star’s eye. Rooney, currently an art student in Boston, told Inquisitr in an email, “I’ve always enjoyed drawing as a child, but I began drawing portraits in high school.” Heather told Inquisitr that her parents bought her her first set of Prismacolor colored pencils. Watch as the 20-year-old self taught portrait artist who only began drawing photo-realistic a handful of year ago brings Norman Reedus to life with only paper and a set of Prismacolor colored pencils:

Heather Rooney’s colored pencil version of an image of Rihanna is so stunning, one could accuse the artist of using Photoshop instead of pencil and paper… if it weren’t for the video-evidence Rooney supplied showing her creating the visually stunning portrait drawing:

Heather Rooney rocked the internet earlier this year when she drew the infamous “Oscars selfie” which included Ellen DeGeneres. The portrait drawing of multiple celebrities this year brought Rooney media attention from several sources including New York ‘s Daily News and Today. Uproxx said the portrait drawing Heather Rooney drew belonged in a museum.

Ellen tweeted the photo of the selfie from the Oscars that was so popular that it “broke Twitter”:

UpRoxx writer Ashley Burns explained that Heather Rooney’s portrait drawings are one of those rare times people should be amazed at something on the internet:

“A lot of times in this Internet game, we’re quick to throw around terms of amazement and even endearment about random videos, photoshops or GIFs that people find, because we’re basically like little parakeets that get excited about the shiny things hanging from the mirrors in our cage. That kind of behavior really takes away from the enthusiasm that we show for things that actually deserve to be hyped and praised beyond belief, at least those that showcase an incredible amount of artistic accomplishment and creativity.”

Heather Rooney has uploaded time-lapse videos of herself drawing portraits of famous faces such as Jessica Alba, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Lana Del Rey, and most recently, Zac Efron, the 26-year-old actor best known for High School Musical who recently opened up about his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, according to CNN. Uproxx reported, “Just in time for the NBA Playoffs, Heather used her fantastic talent to draw portraits of Miami Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade,” which brings up the artists’ rare marketing potential. Promising young art student Heather Rooney’s talent to produce photographic-quality portrait drawings is so astounding, with proper timing, she could steal the lime-light any time almost any celebrity or political figure was trending online.

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jessica alba rihanna beyonce norman reedus walking dead matt smith lana del rey doctor who Zac Efron Bruno Mars
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