Topic: These are hand drawn with Ballpoint pen. Wow.

[Belgarath]

For more, go here:

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/08/samuel-silva-incredible-photorealistic.html

[Louie]

That is flipping awesome.

[SkepticallyPwnd]

I've seen these before, but forgot... too damn awesome for my memory to contain!

[Ah.hell]

    The first women isn't near photo realistic and the cats are cats so why not but I really have a hard time believing the redhead isn't a photo.

[DarthCaitSith]

Last time these came around did a little digging. Seems they are all tracings. Not that that makes them less cool looking.

[Caffiene]

Seems they are all tracings.

Thats not what his DeviantArt account says -

Q: Do you trace the drawings, use projected images, what do you do to get the proportions?
A: No. I use a grid on the reference, I then draw another pencil grid on the paper to make the drawing the exact size I want, then draw the simple outlines in pencil as accurately as possible and then erase the pencil as I color the drawing. I look and draw, the traditional typical old way. At this point I don't need a grid, I can draw just by looking, I just use one to save from 20 to 30 hours.

[pandamonium]

I don't know why people discount tracing. Speaking as someone who's studied the subject, tracing isn't nearly as easy as it sounds. I mean, it's orders or magnitude easier than relying on direct observations, because translating what you see in three dimensions to be convincing in two dimensions is difficult.*

Fun fact: the camera obscura was used for tracing in ye olde days.


*It really does teach you how screwed up our visual system is, though.

As for these drawings: they are technically artful, and the redhead is particularly striking, but they seem kind of flat to me otherwise. I think it's cool that they were done in ballpoint pen, but they seem... yeah, flat is the best word, I think.

[Caffiene]

As part of my enrolment for my building design course next year, I discovered the secret of how architects do their visualisation sketches... They just print out the design and trace over it in wobbly freehand

[pandamonium]

    The first women isn't near photo realistic and the cats are cats so why not but I really have a hard time believing the redhead isn't a photo.

I've seen a higher resolution of the redhead--it's easier to notice the stroke work in a higher res pic. You can kind of see it in the areas around her neck.

As part of my enrolment for my building design course next year, I discovered the secret of how architects do their visualisation sketches... They just print out the design and trace over it in wobbly freehand

Eh, when I'm doing sketches, I do it freestyle. They turn out pretty godawful. Which is why you then find stuff to either trace or grid out; it's technically not tracing, but is basically a more complicated tracing involving grids 'n' such--I find it a helpful method, but I'm probably too impatient to do it properly. I just do approximate gridding, and get it as close as I can that way, and then just make it look good. Really, who has the patience to sit there and figure out the proper ratios?