20 phenomenally realistic pencil drawings

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You'd be forgiven for thinking that the images in this article are photographs. But we assure you, they're not. Each and every one is hand-drawn pencil art – many of them in beautiful black and white.

Here, some seriously talented illustrators have pulled out their best pencils and drawing techniques to create some truly exceptional pencil art. Featuring celebrity portraits, animals, natural scenes, everyday objects and famous landmarks, there's something to inspire you in each artwork here. Enjoy...

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01. Franco Clun – Anne Hathaway

Amazingly, Clun has had no formal artistic training

This incredible portrait of Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway is the work of Franco Clun, a self-taught artist from Italy who has picked up everything he knows about drawing from reading manuals and plenty of practice.

02. Paul Cadden – Shower

Cadden's illustrations are frighteningly realistic

When we first saw the work of Scottish artist Paul Cadden, it took a while for us to realise that they were in fact pencil drawings – the hyperrealist artist used just graphite and chalk to create these stunning images.

"Although the drawings and paintings I make are based upon a series of photographs and video stills, I use softer and more complex focuses on the subject so that the resulting art presents it as a living, tangible being," he explains. 

"These objects and scenes in my drawings are thus meticulously detailed to create the illusion of a new reality not seen in the original photo."

03. Cath Riley – Flesh

This series by Cath Riley features hyperrealistic pencil drawings of flesh

Cath Riley's pencil drawings are amazing to look at, but she regards her hyperreal work as just a stage in her ongoing evolutionary process of exploration and development. 

She's now moving in more experimental and abstract directions in her work, including very large scale drawing projects based around the human figure.

Her incredible pencil drawings are included in collections all over the world, and she has worked with clients including Nike, GQ, M&C Saatchi, The Economist, and The New York Times.

04. Armin Mersmann – Trees

Mersmann's work has been featured in exhibitions all over the world

German artist Armin Mersmann is the man behind this chilly woodland scene. Although he also works with oils, Mersmann is most known for his intense naturalistic graphite drawings. His work has been featured in more than 150 exhibitions and has won him over 30 awards.

"The very act of drawing every branch, twig, highlight and shadow, rendering textures from the extreme winter skins to the silkiness of new-fallen snow, transforms the scene into an intimate journey. This undertaking is considerably different than merely taking a photo or simply being there," he explains on his site.

"The drawing process immersed me for hundreds of hours, interpreting and translating what I saw and felt from hundreds of reference photos, collected branches, twigs, and revisits to the site."

05. Diego Fazio – Sensazioni

It's almost impossible to believe this incredible image is a pencil drawing

Entitled Sensazioni (sensations, in English) this mind-blowing pencil drawing was created by artist Diego Fazio. Over a period of roughly 200 hours, Fazio drew this intricate piece, which we still – no matter how long we look at it – cannot believe is a drawing. Simply amazing.

06. Stefan Marcu – Gorilla

Stefan pushes himself to create his best work possible

"From the age of five I started drawing, and over time I added more skills, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, all types of graphic design, caricature and digital photography," explains Stefan Marcu, the artist behind this stunningly realistic gorilla portrait.

"My focus is on the study of art and my personal development in all its branches, and I am obsessed with excellence in the creation of any product."

Marcu created this study of a gorilla as his entry for The National Open Art Competition UK. "I'm pleased with the piece as it personally represents a big leap in scale, detail and patience," he says. "It is roughly twice the size of my previous work and I learnt a lot working on this beast."

07. Giacomo Burattini – Apnoea

Burattini believes his work highlights the beauty of imperfection

"Hyperrealism in my work displays the beauty of the imperfections perfectly, opening a door within the subject that is not normally depicted in real life," says Italian artist Giacomo Burattini, who drew this unusual portrait.

"I believe reality is a beauty in itself so I don't need to find ways to hide the imperfections of human nature so my work shows the perfection of the imperfections of life."

Burattini found an audience by sharing his pencil drawings on Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, where he regularly shares his works in progress. This drawing was created using black coloured pencils, graphite pencils and charcoal.

08. Paul Lung – Mui Chu

Lung specialises in super-realistic fur

This mindblowingly realistic image of a cat was created by traditional artist Paul Lung. The Hong Kong-based creative's portfolio on Deviant Art is astonishing, featuring realistic portraits of both humans and animals. 

The time in which each takes depends on his subject matter, with this particular A2 pencil drawing taking Lung approximately 60 hours to complete.

09. Jay Varma – Inner Courtyard

Varma captures every tiny detail in his coloured pencil drawings

Give self-taught artist Jay Varma a set of coloured pencils and a piece of paper and it will undoubtedly result in a gorgeous illustration, like this architectural study. 

Art runs throughout Varma's family, his grandfather being master oil painter Raja Ravi Varma – one of the most highly regarded artists in India. 

Jay Varma's skills have been recognised by many, with his work featuring in various prominent publications. In his pencil drawings, Varma pays particular attention to mood and lighting.

10. Randy Owen – Samuel L Jackson

Owen creates portraits like this in his spare time

Randy Owen creates incredibly realistic pencil drawings – like this image of Samuel L Jackson, drawn using Mars Lumograph black pencils – in his spare time. 

On his ridiculously good Deviant art portfolio, he explains his aim: "Portraying the human essence in a traditionalist manner, while not being ignorant about contemporary trends, is my goal as a craftsperson."

Next page: 10 more incredibly realistic pencil drawings

11. Linda Huber – Light bulb

Even the simplest of objects can make stunning illustrations

Linda Huber has been practising the art of drawing with a pencil for several decades. Inspired by her surroundings, Huber draws everything from portraiture to inanimate objects, with each piece taking anywhere from 20-80 hours. 

Huber comments on her site, "Drawing in the style of realism is what I love to do, to recreate life as we see and know it with just a simple pencil is exciting to say the least."

12. Ken Lee – Girl on Fire

It took a while for us to believe this was hand-drawn. You can see why...

UK-based artist Ken Lee is the man behind this stunning pencil drawing. He was inspired to draw this image, based on the Hunger Games blockbuster Mockingjay (Part 2), as a follow up to a Spider-Man 3 drawing that earned him plenty of fans.

The level of detail in this – from the mockingjay bird to the fire effects – proved to be a particular challenge. "I must say I did have reservations about drawing this," he says on his Deviant Art page. 

"I knew I was in for the long road once I started it... I need a long break now!"

13. Mark Stewart – Peter Capaldi

Stewart has spent years perfecting the art of pencil drawings

Artist Mark Stewart drew this incredible portrait of Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who in graphite pencil.

Stewart's artistic career began when, after graduating from an art and design course in London, he was hired as a wildlife illustrator. The years that followed saw Stewart perfect his skills, producing highly detailed traditional wildlife illustrations in watercolour and gouache. He now works exclusively in graphite pencil producing highly detailed drawings, mostly portraits.

"My aim is to produce drawings that are realistic in nature but highly stylised," he explains. "I also very much want them to be recognised as drawings and not mistaken for photographs."

14. Martijn Versteeg – Audrey Hepburn

We love this realistic illustration of film icon Audrey Hepburn

Martijn Versteeg is an artist from The Netherlands, who appears to have a small obsession with Audrey Hepburn, judging by the number of portraits he has drawn of the film star.

But, more importantly, he also has massive amounts of talent in the art of pencil drawing. For the past few years, he has also been experimenting with oil painting.

If you're having trouble believing that this is a drawing rather than a photograph, you can watch a making-of time-lapse video above.

15. Keith Moore – Big Ben

Practise makes perfect with Moore's hyperrealistic work

"I love the challenge of creating small scale hyperrealistic graphite pencil art without compromise," says artist Keith Moore. 

Practising his personal techniques and refining his toolset, Moore has been embracing the liberation of high definition digital photographic referencing. And we think his work is all the better for it.

16. Andy Buck – Dimples

This adorable pencil drawing was done by UK artist Andy Buck

'Dimples' is, unbelievably, an A-Level coursework piece created by UK artist Andy Buck as a teenager.

His online portfolio has a fantastic selection of realistic graphite drawings, some of which took him up to 100 hours to complete. 

Buck comments on his site, "Whenever I start a drawing it is always my aim to achieve photorealism, this strive for perfection is the reason I have continued to draw."

17. Justin Meyers – A Door in Homer, Nebraska

This illustration makes it easy to see why Justin Meyers specialises in graphite drawings

US-based artist Justin Meyers specialises primarily in graphite and charcoal drawings on paper. And with this textured old doorway as an example of his work, we can see why.

Talking about his work on his site, Meyers says: "My works in graphite and charcoal strive to explore the use of simple material to portray simple subject matter and composition with a borderline eccentric approach to detail."

18. Dirk Dzimirsky – Magnetic Field

This Dzimirsky pencil drawing is startlingly realistic

German artist Dirk Dzimirsky draws and paints the most stunning up-close-and-personal portraits. A master of his craft, the artist captures every bit of fine detail perfectly, from the moisture in his subject's eyes to lines and fine hair.

Although, like most hyperrealist artists, he works from photos, Dzimirsky emphasises that this is only an intermediary step.

"Before I take photos for a new project I already have a precise idea of how the future work should look as a drawing or painting. I set up the photographs that I then use as templates," he explains.

19. David Kao – Audi R8

David Kao's R8 looks so realistic you can imagine it cutting you up on a motorway

David Kao first started drawing cars when he was just three years old. But it was only at the age of 19, after his father took him to his car garage, that Kao began to take his art and realism seriously. 

Now the artist has a stunning portfolio of ultra-realistic car drawings. Included is this gorgeous Audi R8, which Kao created using a graphite pencil, tissue, eraser, and brush in approximately 10 hours.

20. Josi Fabri – Frodo and Sam

At first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a press shot

This amazing illustration was created by Brazilian artist Josi Fabri, who draws inspiration from favourite musicians and movies – including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, of which she is an avid fan.

"For many, The Lord of the Rings means a fantasy book with its clichés. A story full of fantastic characters, about honour, loyalty, ambitions, sacrifices, power, great deeds taken by great men," Fabri says.

"But there is another thing that has nothing to do with pure fantasy or magic… This drawing is about friendship."

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