No, they're not photographs! The astonishing pictures drawn by PENCIL

Kerry McQueeney
The Daily Mail
March 15, 2012

These might look like photographs, but it's not all black and white when it comes to the work of this artist.

Despite looking like they have been captured on a camera, these are actually hand-drawn images created by hyperrealist artist Paul Cadden.

More

I'm thinking he projects a photo image onto the medium and pencils the image in from there.

I dunno. I wouldn't automatically put it into the realm of the impossible - I've personally watched artists doing some amazingly photorealistic stuff with airbrushes.

I dunno. I wouldn't automatically put it into the realm of the impossible - I've personally watched artists doing some amazingly photorealistic stuff with airbrushes.

Me, too, but go to the site and look at that picture.

It wouldn't surprise me if he's working from a photo, but I don't think it's necessarily traced.

Yes, but why?

It wouldn't surprise me if he's working from a photo, but I don't think it's necessarily traced.

He is working from a photo, per the article.

I bet it would be harder to do it from real life than from a still photo. We don't see anything like it in historical periods without still photos.

It wouldn't surprise me if he's working from a photo, but I don't think it's necessarily traced.

He is working from a photo, per the article.

Ah. I can see the images, but the text is a bit too small on the phone

I dunno. I wouldn't automatically put it into the realm of the impossible - I've personally watched artists doing some amazingly photorealistic stuff with airbrushes.

I think it is perfectly possible. We have historic testimonials about the talented forgers who with nothing more than the quill pens in their hands were able to reproduce other people's handwriting so well that the authors themselves could not tell the copy from the original. One Cagliostro was amazingly good at that. I would say that the same ability at a similar level can be involved here.

I dunno. I wouldn't automatically put it into the realm of the impossible - I've personally watched artists doing some amazingly photorealistic stuff with airbrushes.

I think it is perfectly possible. We have historic testimonials about the talented forgers who with nothing more than the quill pens in their hands were able to reproduce other people's handwriting so well that the authors themselves could not tell the copy from the original. One Cagliostro was amazingly good at that. I would say that the same ability at a similar level can be involved here.

The artist is talented; there is no doubt.

He is also very fortunate to make the commissions that he does, because there is no justifiable demand for his work that I can imagine.

My brother, while serving in the Air Force, brought home with him a fellow who was extraordinarily talented in this fashion. I do wish I still had the drawing of a Tyrannosaurus terrorizing a city street that he drew for me.

Paul Cadden could make an impressive difference with his art if he should choose to include some imaginary friends in the pictures and make them look as real as the other subjects.

That, to me, would demonstrate his mastery of the craft, and not mere copy realism. What, really, is he offering that a number of photographic techniques could not display in mere seconds?

Admittedly, such a diversion would trivialize his remarkable skill, but that is precisely what Escher used to highlight his miraculously twisted inner vision.

The artist is talented; there is no doubt.

He is also very fortunate to make the commissions that he does, because there is no justifiable demand for his work that I can imagine.....

He is probably drawing the federal reserve notes, er, bank of england ones.

It wouldn't surprise me if he's working from a photo, but I don't think it's necessarily traced.

He is working from a photo, per the article.

Ah. I can see the images, but the text is a bit too small on the phone

Get a Droid. That's what I'm using and it enlarges fine.

I sort of don't see the point of making a drawing look like a photograph, except as a display of virtuosity. I also don't view a photograph as hyper realism. But there are also photographers, and especially computer artists, who do their best to make their work look like paintings.

And you can now order old master painting copies from China.

It wouldn't surprise me if he's working from a photo, but I don't think it's necessarily traced.

He is working from a photo, per the article.

Ah. I can see the images, but the text is a bit too small on the phone

Get a Droid. That's what I'm using and it enlarges fine.

So does mine - I just didn't bother

skilled work.
but, in the end, a human photocopier.
I would be more impressed if he did this from life or imagination, rather than exactly rendering a reference image.

It's an impressive display of patience and fine motor skills, but ultimately uninteresting.