( CNN ) -- Watching digital artist Kyle Lambert 's stunning photo-realistic iPad paintings emerge from a blank screen is an awe-inspiring experience . The image of Morgan Freeman in the video above , created from a picture by Scott Gries , is so rich in detail that it is difficult to believe that you are n't looking at a photograph . Difficult until you see the brush strokes build from a blank canvas and turn into the Oscar-nominated actor before your very eyes . Lambert is a UK-based visual artist who specializes in creating visually striking paintings and illustrations for film , television , advertising and print . Lambert says that his work combines his `` passion for art , technology and storytelling . '' The British artist originally trained as an oil painter , but today has an extensive list of clients including Apple , Adobe , BBC Television , GQ Magazine , and Paramount Studios . According to Lambert there is n't much difference between working on a tablet and conventional painting , except that after you are done you can watch the creative process back : . `` The advantage to using Procreate on the iPad is that you can create really high resolution artwork and the process of creating it can then be automatically exported as a video , '' Lambert says . `` The user interface is nice and simple which means you can quickly select brushes and colours without interrupting your thought process . The only disadvantage about working on a touch screen is that you have choose between using your fingers or a whole host of stylus choices . Personally I have become used to painting in on the iPad with my finger . This helps the interchange between pinching to zoom and navigate the painting and then tapping to paint . '' Most of Lambert 's work is done on an Apple Mac Pro but when he is away from his desktop , Lambert uses his sketchbook , Digital SLR camera , iPhone and iPad . According to the artist , the image of Morgan Freeman above required 285,000 brush strokes and more than 200 hours to complete . Lambert painted the work over a few weeks in November before posting the video this week . It received a million views in its first 12 hours online and currently stands at 8 million views . In 2011 , Lambert was 'Featured Artist ' at the Macworld Expo , where he delivered a talk about digital artwork and gave live demonstrations . He also offers art tutorials on his website , so if you are a budding artist with a passion for digital painting , you could do worse than to check out his webpage : kylelambert.co.uk .
Digital artist Kyle Lambert created photo - realistic paintings on iPad . Painting of Morgan ##a took 12 hours and 285,000 brush strokes . The painting received 1 million views in its first 12 hours online .