Chiang Mai Night Market – Thailand’s Best Portrait Artists
Chiang Mai’s night market has the standard labyrinth of tourist t-shirts and cheap designer knock offs.
That is until we wandered into the basement and discovered portrait studios, a thriving den of charcoal artists.
I was expecting your run-of-the-mill street side caricature artist. But quickly discovered they’re far from typical.
Here most artists graduated from art school and make their living painstakingly enlarging photographs into graphite masterpieces.
If you think they’re mere human photocopiers, you’ll realise that blowing a thumbnail up to A2 size by hand requires a formidable amount of artistic talent.
Having drawn charcoal copies myself, I can assure you that a lot of detail has to be imagined first before the brush hits the paper. And creative aptitude they have here, by the bucketloads.
Furthermore, I couldn’t spot any trickery. Just a loupe on the left hand, a brush on a steady right, and patience the size of jumbo jets.
The tools of the trade are deceptively simple, but I’m sure each brush is its own unique combination tip size, shape and mix of graphite powder.
So next time you drop by, I highly recommend that you bring a photo for them to draw.
That is, unless you possess a raw talent in sitting completely still—without flinching one bit—for a few hours.
