New York painter Richard Phillips gives us an exclusive first look at his newest Most Wanted portraits, and talks candidly about his ultra-famous subjects.

Robert Pattinson, 2009

“The demand for getting things right with Pattinson—getting the lips right, the beard right—is important because all the character he has in his classic ‘I’ve seen it all before’ look is made up of all those constituent parts. A friend of mine stopped by and said, ’There’s a subliminal message in his beard, but I can’t make it out.’ There isn’t [laughs].”