Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Actor shares Liam’s art
A STOBSWELL artist’s drawing of the star of a BBC crime drama has proved to be a hit, none more so than with the man himself.
Liam McLean, who posts his art on Instagram page l4mart, shared his drawing of Line of Duty’s Martin Compston.
The former Morgan Academy pupil soon got the surprise of his life when the actor, who plays DS Steve Arnott, commented and shared the drawing with his 200,000 followers.
The seal of approval is all the more special as the work will be auctioned to raise funds for Ninewells nurse Jillian Steedman and the campaign to pay for her cancer treatment.
Jillian has an extremely rare form of the disease and needs immunotherapy.
A drawing of fellow actor Cillian Murphy, star of Peaky Blinders, will also be auctioned.
Liam, 29, said the messages from Compston and others helped inspire him to keep honing his craft.
He said: “I grew up doing music all my life then over the past seven months I found my love for art. I am self-taught and constantly practising.
“I work full-time so I only have limited time to draw on days off. It’s difficult because an average drawing can take between four to nine hours depending on the detail.
“Changing between styles I decided to draw Martin Compston, an actor I’m a fan of from Scotland. He saw the drawing on Instagram and shared it and commented directly on my post.
“Getting that reaction makes it all worth it and pushes me harder to continue.”
Liam added: “I have done drawings for locals in Dundee and I got a request from Kyle Christie from Geordie Shore so I did that. I have more than 70 pending requests including from former stars from The Only Way Is Essex and Ex On The Beach.”
Liam is due to be married in Spain in July, and said art has helped relieve the stress of the wedding potentially being cancelled.
He said: “It’s been tough with the ongoing Covid-19 situation as we have our wedding in Spain due on July 3 which potentially might be cancelled, but the drawing has helped to release the stress and lets me zone out.”
To donate to Fundraising for Jill campaign, search online for Help Jill Fight Cancer.