The world's 'most realistic finger painting' and its creation on an iPad: Artist's amazing image of screen legend Morgan Freeman

British iPad artist wows with his portrait of Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman which is practically identical to the photograph it is copied from

Kyle Lambert, 26, spent 200 hours over the course of a month producing his stunning work

His video demonstration of the Freeman artwork on YouTube has been viewed more than 4 million times




They may look like the same thoughtful photographic portrait of Morgan Freeman, but in fact one of these is a hyper-realistic finger-painting, created using only an iPad.



If you are still not convinced, the British artist responsible, Kyle Lambert, 26, has produced a video to accompany his painstaking work viewed by almost four million people on YouTube - the only thing it is missing is a trademark narration by the Hollywood legend.



The ultra-detailed picture, originally by photographer Scott Gries took Lambert one month and constitutes 285,000 finger strokes that blend ontop of one another to produced the precise wisps of hair in Freeman's beard, the wrinkles in his forehead and the freckles on his cheeks - rendering it almost indistinguishable from the original image.



Scroll Down for Video



Painting or photograph? The image on the left is the incredibly realistic iPad finger painting created and conceived by Kyle Lambert using the photograph of Morgan Freeman by Scott Gries (right), where Freeman poses for a portrait backstage during the Mandela Day Concert at Radio City Music Hall on July 18, 2009 in New York City

In the time-lapse video which shows the humble beginnings of his piece, Lambert reveals how he uses a specialist art app called Procreate to allow him to zero-in and layer his work.



Lambert, who is a trained artist and oil painter used the app to reduce the brush sizes to only a few pixels - which in turn lets him zoom in to apply stroke upon stroke to produce the ultra-lifelike portrait.

'It captures every brush stroke automatically and you can export it to the camera roll,' Lambert explained.



'It has the best canvas size and and video export. It’s the most like Photoshop.'

Beginnings: Kyle's video shows how he painstakingly created the picture from scratch on his iPad using only his fingers and an advanced app called Procreate

The incredible detail of the work has led to some doubting whether the finger painting is all Lambert claims it to be.



Critics have pointed out that apps like Procreate allow the user to easily add on images or photos and set them as paintings.



As such, some have attempted to claim that Lambert's step-by-step video is in fact played backwards and is not a true representation of a life-like portrait of Freeman.



However, Lambert's portfolio of iPad work is extensive and includes pictures of Barack Obama and Beyonce - all incredibly realistic.

Painting: The image of Morgan Freeman is clearly coming together but is still a painting and not the hyper-realistic image that is indistinguishable from a photograph that Lambert finally creates

Almost there: While at first glance the picture on the left could be mistaken for the real thing but the softness of the eyes and the tip of the nose are a giveaway. It is a lot hard to tell whether the picture on the right is a painting or the real thing



Lambert told ninemsn that the painting was a very long process.



'I get very involved in my process so spend a lot of time each day on the painting,' he said.



'I was spending 9-10 hours some days if a certain area I was working on was complicated.'

Launchpad: This portrait of Beyonce was created by Lambert in 2010 and quickly spread around the Internet as an example of his talent with finger painting on the iPad, while (right) this image of Rhianna displays Lambert's uncanny ability to produce intricate image using his Procreate app



Inspired to create the picture after viewing Freeman in the Tom Cruise vehicle, Oblivion, Lambert has been using an iPad to paint since 2010.



'I've found with past videos people are more engaged when the subject is familiar to them,' he said.



'I think I must have been watching the movie Oblivion when the idea of Morgan Freeman came to mind.'

However, the portrait of Morgan Freeman seems to be a quantum leap forward in terms of the final product for Lambert, who lives in Cheshire.

Evolution: Kyle Lambert began his work on the iPad application known as Brushes - and this portrait of David Beckham from 2011 illustrates his early skill - which has developed over the past two years as an early portrait of Jennifer Anniston from 2011 also shows

Beauty: Megan Fox and her green eyes are the highlights of this portrait by Kyle Lambert as the beehive of Amy Winehouse in her prime reveals an artists touch



Inspired by the iPad art of legendary British artist, David Hockney, who used Apple's tablet to paint in 2010, Lambert originally used an app known as Brushes, before updating to Procreate.



The illustration and animation graduate first began creating digital art following the release of the iPad and was first recognized for his artwork after he posted his re-creation of the Toy Story 3 poster on the Apple Mac website.

