Actress Gabourey Sidibe is the subject of New York artist and illustrator Sam Spratt’s latest work. Sidibe looks striking and regal, yet warm and pensive in the beautifully detailed work.

Spratt work about working closely with Sidibe on his blog,

Her time in my studio was mostly light, filled with her bubbly energy as we cracked open some beers, exchanged embarrassing drinking stories, taking group photos as if we’d known each other for more than the actual hour we had, and her trying to convince me that she has an actual medical condition where she finds everything adorable. You’d be fooled too if you were lied to by an Oscar-nominated actress with her talent. But when I asked her, stripped of any pretension, that if I were to paint her, how she’d like to be portrayed, she said “I don’t really care about how I’m portrayed” and then she paused and continued “I guess … did you ever watch the show Community? Ya know how the school’s mascot is the human being? I mean, I don’t want to be a grey faceless spandex blob like that, but I’d like to just be a human being. Not someone’s message or idea of what I stand for because of what I look like, just a human, how you’d paint me if I were anyone else”.

You might also recognize Spratt as the artist behind Janelle Monáe’s Electric Lady album cover. Over the years Spratt has racked up an impressive client list of corporate and celebrity heavy hitters such as National Geographic, Childish Gambino, and EMI Records.

Check out more of Spratt’s work HERE.