Artist uses jelly beans to create captivating portraits

Jelly beans have long been a craving for anyone with a sweet tooth, but one artist turned these oval shaped snacks into something sweet.

Kristen Cumings has been creating art out of jelly beans since 2009 when she was contracted on a trial basis by Jelly Belly. She said the company loved her work so much it asked her to create a portrait of their CEO.

"I was terrified to do it, but they really liked it," Cumings told ABC.

In order to create these projects, Cumings orders about 25-30 different flavors per art piece. The company sends her a 10-pound box of each flavor she orders. On average, a single art piece consists of 12,000 jelly beans and takes about 75-100 hours to complete.

"I love making art out of unusual things," said Cumings.

She has created portraits of many pop icons, including Harry Potter and Elvis Presley. Her favorite art piece to work on was Star Wars villain Darth Vader, but it also proved to be her most challenging project.

"The challenge was to get all the different shades of black to stand out and to get his light saber to appear glowing," she said.

For her next project she hopes to create an art piece of Wonder Woman or another strong female superhero.