Xiaonan Sun has become a YouTube sensation after a video of him drawing the portraits of Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins with both hands, at the same time, went viral. It’s definitely one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
Let’s face it, YouTube is full of videos of talented artists drawing realistic portraits of celebrities, and Xiaonan Sun was just one of them, until he posted a unique video of him drawing a tribute to Shawshank Redemption, one of his favorite movies of all time. The portraits of Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins look pretty impressive, but what really makes them special is the artist did them at the same time, with both hands. Most people can barely draw with their main hand, and here is this guy in his 20s who can do it just as well with both, and at the same time. I know I’m repeating myself here, but this is just insane.
And if you still don’t think what Xiaonan does is impressive, you should know he is also self-taught. The guy actually went to business school and only realized he wanted to study art in his senior year. So he bought an expensive painting kit, but even though he enjoyed painting, the expensive materials and messy oil paints made him turn his attention to charcoal. He would always doodle during classes, in college, without realizing he was actually practicing for an artistic career. The talented young artist then saw someone do a time-lapse drawing video on YouTube and thought it was a great idea, so he started doing his own.
During an interview with Tom Clocker, of Examiner.com, Xiaonan Sun said he usually takes 2-3 hours to complete his detailed portraits, whether they are done with one hand or two. Although he works a little slower on ambidextrous portraits, it doesn’t take him twice as long as a single figure, because he’s working with both hands.
He hasn’t yet sold any of his portraits to actual celebrities, he was contacted by Ripley’s Believe It or Not to have his Shawshank simultaneous two-handed drawing and video displayed in their odditorium. Check out his official website for more great artworks.
