Photograph or pencil drawing?! How Kevin Okafor made "Mana"

Date
4 February 2013

You may have seen 27 year old Kevin Okafor on the news last week, displaying his hyper-real pencil drawings and discussing how people often mistake it for black and white photography. On his fascinating blog, Kevin shows us step-by-step images of how he creates these frankly mind-boggling precision portraits. The level of accuracy and detail is mesmerising, and has sparked debate over whether something so close to photography can actually be described as art. Kevin’s portraits of famous musicians have most certainly caught the eye of the public, but it is his intimate portraits of friends such as Mana that are the standout pieces.

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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KeviKevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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Kevin Okafor: Mana, evolution

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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