Incredible wildlife photography... wait, what? Those are pencil drawings?

[Scuba]

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-incredible-artwork-graphite-wielding-photographer?image=1


..snip..

Believe it or not, these stunning images are not photographs - they were drawn using only one pencil. These incredibly realistic images show the humble pencil at its best, and are so exceptional that they can detail the fine hairs of a cat and the wisps of a beard. While most people use a pencil only so they can easily erase any mistakes they make, Paul Lung often spends up to 60 hours sketching out his latest work of art.

..end..



<a href="http://imgur.com/BTXoB"><img src="" alt="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" /></a>

<a href="http://imgur.com/NC7CU"><img src="" alt="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" /></a>


edited to note more drawings at link

[Callalily]

1. Simply stunning!

[peacebird]

2. I thought they were exquisite photos, but to learn they are pencil drawings?!?!

I am totally amazed. They are awesome!

[The Wielding Truth]

3. Nothing is impossible, but this is very hard to believe.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. That is almost unbelievable. Did you notice the little beads of moisture

on the whiskers of the panda?

[femrap]

5. Wow...just Wow. K and R nt

[Booster]

6. Absolutely incredible talent. They're all beautiful.

[dipsydoodle]

7. 2 pic looks like

my Maine Coon :)

[Tx4obama]

8. K&R :) n/t

[sasha031]

9. amazing

[valerief]

10. Holy cannoli! They're GRRRRRRRRREAT! nt

[The Straight Story]

11. pffft I have a gimp plugin that does that

;)

[lunatica]

12. Photorealism

http://www.art-is-fun.com/how-to-paint-photorealism.html

[Scuba]

13. Cool! Thanks for linking. n/t

[Jamastiene]

14. Wow, gorgeous.

:)

[grantcart]

15. You will love this video of a similar treatment by a Thai artist of Lennon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_7xFz6zL-k&feature=related

[Scuba]

16. Very cool. Thanks for sharing. n/t

[emilyg]

17. Amazing.

[robinlynne]

18. SPECTACULAR!

[theaocp]

19. That is fucking sick and wrong

on so many levels. I am in awe!

[Auntie Bush]

22. What's you talkin about Willis? Why is it wrong?

[Capitalocracy]

23. Black magic. Witchcraft.

Dude sold his soul to the devil, only possible explanation.

[immoderate]

20. I've done this stuff. It's from a negative. It's called "pencil printing."

First you project a negative onto a sheet of paper in a dark room.

Then you shade anyplace that looks light with a pencil until the entire sheet is a uniform tone. When you turn on the lights, voila, a perfect "photo-realistic" print. The videos never show that part, they show the artist, in daylight, touching up some shading, never the outlines or details.

There was a story about a guy who does the same kind of stuff at rodeos, a few months ago. It was a video about him. Showed him taking the pictures. Then they showed him touching a picture with his pencil.

I did one of these of a girl friend when I got the instructions from an article in Popular Photography in the seventies! She loved the print, it was from a good b&w negative. But her mother always told me I should become an artist, though I tried several times to explain it was really a photograph.

By the way, some Renaissance artists used a similar technique, called camera obscura.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura

--imm

[immoderate]

21. DOES THAT MEAN IT'S A FAKE??

No. But it's dishonest to pretend it's a freehand pencil drawing. When I did these, I always told people how it was done.

--imm

[IDemo]

24. Not as photorealistic, but some of mine from the 90's:

[emcguffie]

25. But is this any different than a photograph?

I have to admit, I don't get the value of this kind of art. If it looks just like a photograph, why not settle for the photograph?

I also have to wonder, isn't this kind of a drawing done with the aid of a projector, so that the artist is essentially tracing the photograph?

So, obviously the fellow's skill is phenomenal, but is it really art, if it's traced and is mimicking precisely a photograph? If that is art, then what is art?

Excuse me for my critical bent. I am sincerely asking these questions. I see lots of photo realistic art, and while it's breathtaking, I don't understand its value.

[woo me with science]

26. I"m not a fan of photorealism for just this reason.

An artist puts something into a picture. Photorealism leaves me cold.

[immoderate]

27. It is a photograph. Photographs are art.

It's just another method of printing a negative onto paper. It's a pencil print, rather than a silver or platinum emulsion. It might be a great photograph.

My objection, as I stated above, is when it's presented as a free-hand drawing. Videos show the artists pretending they can draw like that from scratch.

--imm

[skypilot]

28. The value to me...

...is that it shows what an actual human being, as opposed to a machine like a camera, is capable of. I don't know if this guy used a projector or not but there are artists out there who do incredible photorealistic freehand work with pencil and paint. I think that if an artist is capable of doing it then he should do it and not let his talents die on the vine just because a machine can do the same thing.

Hope this post doesn't sound as though I'm trying to start a fight about it. I'm not. I'm simple more impressed by the idea of a person doing this sort of thing with a pencil, a piece of paper,(or paint and canvas) and his own hands than with the idea of him doing it by pressing a button.

[JNelson6563]

29. Nothing short of incredible!

Amazing!

Tried to rec this but it was too late, sorry!

Julie

[Uncle Joe]

30. Beautiful and incredible!

:wow:

Thanks for the thread, Scuba.:thumbsup: