By Max Gillies
Even before the pandemic struck in 2020, there were the selfies. Thanks to the extraordinarily good cameras built into most smartphones, almost everyone can take a decent photograph of themselves. Most of the resulting images are not great art, so what makes the self-portraits of professional artists that much better?
The answer, of course, is that they have skills the rest of us might not have — a knack for composition, technique, or finding a vantage or expression that communicates something more insightful than just “this is what I look like.”
Congratulations to all of the gifted artists represented here, and please keep your self-portraits coming.
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1. “Centered” by Nicole Woodruff
![Nicole Woodruff (b. 1986), "Centered," 2021, oil on ACM panel, 36 x 30 in., 33 Contemporary (Chicago)](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Woodruff-realism-artist-self-portrait-painting.jpg)
2. “Self-Portrait with Yellow Balloon” by Derek Wilkinson
![Pastel drawing self-portrait](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Wilkinson-contemporary-realism-art-self-portrait-scaled.jpg)
3. “Silenzio” by Erica Calardo
![Contemporary realism self-portrait painting](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Calardo-realism-art-self-portrait-painting-scaled.jpg)
4. “Am I Chicken George?/I Am Chicken George” by Bryan M. Wilson
![Contemporary realism figurative art painting - man with chicken](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Wilson-realism-art-self-portrait-painting-scaled.jpg)
5. “Wild Tooth” by Mary Chiaramonte
![Contemporary realism painting - woman with a wolf](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Chiaramonte-Wild-Tooth-realism-art-self-portrait-painting-scaled.jpg)
6. “Inspiration” by Nathanial Skousen
![Contemporary realism self-portrait painting](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Skousen-contemporary-realism-art-self-portrait-painting.jpg)
7. “An Empire of His Own” by Max Ferguson
![Max Ferguson artist](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Ferguson-realism-art-self-portrait-painting-scaled.jpg)
8. “The Green Man” by Marcus Callum
![Contemporary realism art painting of a man's face side profile](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Callum-contemporary-realism-art-self-portrait-painting-scaled.jpg)
9. “In My Life” by Julianne Jonker
![Julianne Jonker (b. 1957), "In My Life," 2021, charcoal on board, 18 x 24 in., available through the artist](https://realismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-Jonker-In-My-Life-ealism-artist-self-portrait-painting.jpg)
The above article and art originally ran in Fine Art Connoisseur magazine (subscribe here).