Exceptionally Gifted Teen Artist Wins Competition With Hyper Realistic Drawing

Teenage artist, Shania McDonagh, won the 1st prize at the annual Texaco Children’s Art Competition for her incredible pencil portrait. The new Irish star artist has been drawing since she was a little girl and has stunned the world with “Coleman,” her hyper-realistic pencil portrait of an elderly man.

According to Professor Declan McGonagle, the judging panel’s chairman and director of the National College of Art & Design, her work has squarely placed her “as one of the most talented artists of her generation, and one whose skill could see her become one of Ireland’s foremost portrait artists of the future.”

The 16 year old is not only the winner of the whole competition but in the 16-18 year old category as well. McDonagh said it took her about one month to draw the portrait of a man whose photograph she found in the Vanishing Ireland book. She will receive her €1,500 first prize at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham ceremony next month.