Sketch of John Archer

Sketch of Roy Walton

Sketch of Teller

Sketch of Penn Jillette

I might not film many more of these portraits being drawn. Setting up the camera and the fact that the camera is in the way as I draw are slowly me down somewhat. Therefore, I might simply get on with drawing and painting the remaining portraits without the nuisance of filming them. I am about half way through the agreed list and I want to get ahead of schedule so I can get on with editing projects that are in danger of being neglected. I have not fully decided yet.

I have received an email regarding the client's original idea that the videos would be played at an exhibition when the portraits were on display. Although the client is keen, the management of the venues are not. If no venues are interested then I will not bother with any more of these type of videos and just get on with completing the project.

Sketch of Tina Lenert

Sketch of James Randi

Sketch of Noel Britten

Sketch of Max Maven

I used natural light when filming this and unfortunately the automatic exposure on the time lapse camera was slow to respond to moments when the sunshine increased. Therefore, the screen goes white several times during the video.

Sketch of Pete Firman

About the Sketches

A number of people on Youtube have asked me about my sketches of magicians. Two questions keep being asked: 'Why Magicians?' and 'Why are some shown in old age?'

There's one answer to both questions. These sketches are for an exhibition which is to be themed. All the sketches are drawn in ink. All the sketches are of magicians that have appeared on British television. Some of the magicians will have two portraits done of their appearance on a 'past' and 'present' basis. Most of the portraits done so far are 'in the present' portraits; the exception is Wayne Dobson whose portrait is a 'in the past' portrait.

One question, only asked by a few people, is 'are reference photos used?' The answer is yes. However, I don't attempt to replicate one photo. I have a small number of photos showing the facial expressions of the person in question, I choose one for the pose and then incorporate whatever 'character' I can see in the facial expressions of all the photos. For example, in the David Berglas portrait, the photos I used showed that he has a 'lazy' eyelid on one eye. Not a flattering detail but if I 'corrected' it in drawing a portrait it would undermine any attempt of presenting a resemblance of Berglas. These things are the 'distinguishing marks' that make each of us recognizable in even the simplest of cartoon drawings. That's where I had a problem with Wayne Dobson's portrait as a young man. His features were very symmetrical and so I had very little to use to increase the individuality of the sketch to highlight that it is Dobson.

Only one person asked me 'why are the sketches being filmed as they are being drawn?' Partly, it's a sort of video diary of the project progressing. Partly, it's for the tentative plan that under each portrait in the exhibition will be a small screen repeatedly showing the portrait being drawn. (Whether the latter will happen I don't know.) And partly, to publicise the project. Not all the videos will appear on Youtube. One has already been held back.

I hope this has been of help. I'm happy to answer any further questions. Please contact me at john.helvin@googlemail.com and replies will be posted here to the most prevalent questions.

Sketch of Robert Harbin

Although the end credits say 'time lapse photography', this is more of an animation. I didn't use the time lapse setting on the camera; instead I took photographs at various intervals during the drawing of the sketch. So the regular, automatic intervals of time lapse was not used. So is it strictly still a time lapse film? Also, I used only the one sheet of paper and not various cells of the sketch appearing - so is it strictly still an animation? Who knows?

The quality of image is slightly better. The detail can be increased even more and I may attempt this on a future video.

Sketch of Wayne Dobson

This video is different from the previous ones because it does not involve time lapse photography. It is speeded up in the editing process before being coded into a final video. I was unhappy with the quality of video image created by the time lapse software and so I used a different camera for the above video. It did not improve matters. Although I put brand new batteries into the camera, the camera cut out before I had finished the sketch. To speed up the video and save a very shortened version caused a big reduction in picture quality. So after all the effort I went to, there was no improvement. Such is life.

The only option left to obtain a high quality image is the one thing I was avoiding due to work commitments: animating a video. Yep, stopping and starting on a sketch so that I can manually take a picture every now and then, so that eventually the pictures can be made into an animation of the portrait appearing on the paper. These sketches can normally take between one hour to one and a half hours (and I sketch at the end of a working day). Animating it could take all day. Or longer. Time lapse photography was meant to take away all that effort. I'm just unlucky in that the camera and its software has a high quality image for all its various functions except time lapse photography.

Sketch of Paul Daniels

Sketch of Tommy Cooper

Sketch of David Nixon

Sketch of Ali Bongo

Sketch of Paul Zenon

Another time lapse photography film; this time I'm drawing a sketch of Paul Zenon.

Sketch of Ricky Jay

Below is a time lapse film of me drawing a sketch of Ricky Jay.