Category: Pencil Art

Nebula: Graphite Portraits by Thomas Cian

One of Thomas Cian’s recently launched art series is “Nebula,” which was on display at the Malaka Gallery in Milan, the native city of the artist. Working with graphite and water and mixing it up with different textured techniques on paper, his drawings are both experimental and expressive—see “Laura” and “Two Girls,” both strong examples […]

Illustrations Held at the Mercy of Secrets by Patrycja Podkościelny

“I love to draw plants and faces,” Patrycja Podkościelny tells me, “‘cause you can hide [in] there a lot of secrets.” Known for her compelling characters, the figures in her illustrations appear at the mercy of what they’re keeping. They tell none of it but rather suffer the consequences instead; whether they’re being bullied by […]

Severed and Split: The Grotesque Graphite Art of Miles Johnston

Artist Miles Johnston has two reoccurring motifs throughout his graphite drawings—division and compartmentalization. The images split his female subjects in two and often leave them faceless as their bodies viscerally spew liquid or are overcome with the likes of insects. They’re haunting with a grotesqueness that makes it impossible to look away—the details are just […]

Dreaming Dancers: Beautiful Illustrations by Lu Cong

Note: Contains nudity. Lu Cong is an influential American artist who immigrated to the United States when he was 11. In addition to dreamy, pastel-hued oil paintings that express the subject’s underlying emotions, he also creates beautiful minimalistic illustrations in ink, graphite, and watercolor. The figures climb and dance across the page, some with animals […]

Surreal Graphite Drawings Meditate on the Nature of Pain

Note: Contains slight nudity. Artist Alejandro Garcia Restrepo takes a cinematic approach to his graphite drawings. The dramatic still images feel like scenes from a silent film, full of tension and a desire to know what is next. Characters don strange attire and are found in desperate situations. The overarching theme of these images is […]

Update: Thomas Cian’s Graphite and Watercolor Portraits

The young dreadlock-haired Thomas Cian continues to impress fans with his latest works of art. Many admirers have taken guesses about his technique—i.e. if the graphite was placed first or the wash. The best answer is shown visually at Behance; pencil and water-soluble graphite are used to produce monochromatic portraits of friends and family—see one […]

Eyes Wide Open: The Detailed Pencil Drawings of Flavio Apel

His greatest passion, drawing, started as a hobby. Flavio Apel, born in Italy and also half German, is currently one of the artists permanently displayed at the Gallery Rasch in the palace and park-filled city of Kassel in Germany. His hyperrealistic eye drawings have captured the attention of offline and online viewers, as they are […]

So PineNut’s Dark Retelling of Stories in the Bible

So PineNut is a Tokyo, Japan-based artist creating dramatic works entirely out of graphite. Inspired by the Bible, the works feature stories about Adam in the Garden of Eden, the animals of Noah’s Ark, and the famed city of Babel. PineNut’s emotionless figures engage in a dark and realistically-drawn retelling where cannibalism, sacrifice, and mutilation […]

Dirk Dzimirsky’s Photorealistic Art Expresses His Concern with Water Torture

With the aim of making a political statement about torture methods such as waterboarding, German artist Dirk Dzimirsky began experimenting with water as a subject in his hyperrealistic art. While the final result looks less politically focused, Dzimirsky explains that it provided inspiration for his current direction. “The water stayed as an element in my […]