English artist recreates portrait of Morgan Freeman with iPad and finger

Can you tell the difference? The recreation is on the left, while photographer Scott Gries’ original picture is on the right.

Kyle Lambert via YouTube/via YouTube

Can you tell the difference? The recreation is on the left, while photographer Scott Gries’ original picture is on the right.

Just call him iPicasso.

An English artist has captured international attention by recreating a portrait of Morgan Freeman using only his iPad and finger.

Manchester-based painter Kyle Lambert spent more than 200 hours and 285,000 brush strokes to create the replica of the Freeman photo, he said.

British artist Kyle Lambert recreated a portrait of Morgan Freeman with stunning detail using only an iPad and the application Procreate. A time-lapse video of Lambert labor of love has garnered more than 4.5 million hits on YouTube in only two days.

Kyle Lambert/via YouTube

British artist Kyle Lambert recreated a portrait of Morgan Freeman with stunning detail using only an iPad and the application Procreate. A time-lapse video of Lambert labor of love has garnered more than 4.5 million hits on YouTube in only two days.

“You’re trying to capture a likeness,” Lambert, 26, told the Daily News on Wednesday. “Each later has to be more accurate and more precise.”

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Lambert’s meticulous mockup is almost indistinguishable from the original photo, taken by New Jersey-based freelance photographer Scott Gries.

Halfway through the 200-hour project, the image looks like a more traditional oil painting done by hand.

Kyle Lambert/via YouTube

Halfway through the 200-hour project, the image looks like a more traditional oil painting done by hand.

“It’s spot on. The file that I’ve seen, it’s exact,” said Gries, who said he cut his teeth as a photographer with The News in the late 90s.

Lambert’s YouTube video detailing the “tedious” undertaking in the procreate application has garnered more than 4.5 million hits in just two days.

“I woke up yesterday to a bunch of emails in my inbox from people in the tech world,” Gries recalled. “People from Europe have been calling me.”

The original image was taken in 2009 by freelance photographer Scott Gries. Gries shot newsmakers such as Eliot Spitzer for the Daily News in the late '90s.

Scott Gries

The original image was taken in 2009 by freelance photographer Scott Gries. Gries shot newsmakers such as Eliot Spitzer for the Daily News in the late ’90s.

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Lambert began with a blank canvas, using broad strokes to get a foundation.

He then zoomed into the image to capture many of Freeman’s unique details, including the birthmarks that are sprinkled along his iconic face.

Artist Kyle Lambert has a portfolio of electronic finger painting, including images of Rihanna and Jude Law.

www.shesnaps.co.uk

Artist Kyle Lambert has a portfolio of electronic finger painting, including images of Rihanna and Jude Law.

“It’s almost like you’re painting hundreds of thousands of small little paintings,” Lambert said.

Some have called into question the image’s authenticity, skeptical that a portrait can be recreated with such stunning detail.

Scott Gries (center) with his sons Rowan and Liam. Gries’ portrait of Freeman was the basis for Lambert’s recreation. He called the mockup 'spot on.'

Scott Gries

Scott Gries (center) with his sons Rowan and Liam. Gries’ portrait of Freeman was the basis for Lambert’s recreation. He called the mockup ‘spot on.’

Lambert has sent the file into the Procreate development team so that they can verify the entire painting was done from scratch, he said.

Lambert said he hopes his viral recreation will inspire a new generation of app artists that will see their tablets and phones as a blank canvas.

“Just with an iPad and the touch screen technology, you can do cool things,” Lambert said. “The more people that understand they can do that, the better.”

idejohn@nydailynews.com

Follow me on Twitter: @IrvingDeJohn

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Nation / World – NY Daily News

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