Hyperrealism in Action

[wraith808]

The left side is a ball point pen rendering of the image on the right.  Yes, I said ballpoint pen... and only 8 colors!

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/08/amazing-portrait-drawn-with-ballpoint-pens-by-samuel-silva

[KynloStephen66515]

Woah....how the hell?!

That is amazing!

[TaoPhoenix]

"This is an amazing portrait drawn by 29-year-old Portugal-based attorney Samuel Silva (he says art is just his “hobby”)"

I think I am terrified of his legal skills if he gets "bored" and "doodles that during a boring case!"  

More "Ball Point Pen Hobby Art" (!!)

http://vianaarts.deviantart.com/gallery/

[tomos]

I would love to see a real-close close-up to get even an idea of how he does that...

[40hz]

Gotta put this guy on TED.

He also shows up on the Arrested Motion website every so often. (arrestedmotion.com) It's a great site to discover more equally mind-blowing art. Highly recommended.

[4wd]

... and only 8 colors!

He only used 6 plus black for this

[wraith808]

... and only 8 colors!

He only used 6 plus black for this

Just quoting from the article, i.e.

Silva’s medium of choice is standard Bic ballpoint pens on paper and this particular portrait uses eight different colors, taking some 30 hours to complete.

[Renegade]

Uncanny. Some of the art at the above link look like photos with a mild filter on them.

[4wd]

Just quoting from the article, i.e.

Silva’s medium of choice is standard Bic ballpoint pens on paper and this particular portrait uses eight different colors, taking some 30 hours to complete.

From the FAQ relating to this specific picture:

Q:How many colors do you have and what pens are these?
A: I have 8 colored Bic ballpoint pens, for this I used 6 of them plus black. They are just common everyday ballpoint pens.

Not trying to pick you apart or anything but you have to admit it's even more remarkable when he's using less colours

[wraith808]

^ Ah... no.  I just didn't read the FAQ on his page but went from the article, so I didn't know where you were getting that from.

[4wd]

Yeah, one of my many shortcomings, my bad, should have put the reference 

[jgpaiva]

This is really awesome
Also, I have that site (this is colossal) in my google reader, it updates about twice a week and usually with fantastic stuff!