hyperrealist artist Paul Cadden

[Pedronicus]

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.

The 47-year-old, from Scotland, is able to recreate photos in amazing detail, often just using only a pencil.

From the wrinkles on a woman’s face, a puff of smoke from a cigarette or dripping water - Cadden's drawings look unbelievably realistic.

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[QoH]

I can tell that they are hand drawn (puff of smoke made it obvious), but that's just fucking ridiculous. He's a god damn magician. I wonder if he does it from memory?

[natty dread]

Yeah I could see right away those were not photos. Still really awesome though.

Btw, speaking of awesome art, http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blo ... -15-pieces

[thegreekdog]

I could not see right away that they were photos. Awesome stuff.

I do think it's interesting that he's labelled a "hyperrealist" instead of just, you know, a realist... or "hey, he makes art based on what something actually looks like." But far be it for me to critique art critiques.

[Juan_Bottom]

Paul Cadden is a goddam liar. Those are Kodachrome for certain.

[shieldgenerator7]

wow that's impressive. I can't see what separates it from a real picture. they all looked incredibly real

[rdsrds2120]

wow that's impressive. I can't see what separates it from a real picture. they all looked incredibly real

I can tell, but I don't know how I can tell. I think it's the depth of them.

-rd

[natty dread]

You can see the brush strokes at some places. Also some of the colour transitions are slightly unnatural, which gives it away...

[john9blue]

I could not see right away that they were photos.

neither could anyone else. ignore anyone claiming they could in an attempt to inflate their fragile egos.

"that artist can't fool me! haHA!"

christ

[natty dread]

neither could anyone else.

Wow, john9blue is psychic and knows what other people can or can't see. Who knew.

Maybe to an untrained eye like yours they look like photos, but as someone who works with graphics on a daily basis I can tell the difference pretty easily.

But hey, don't let that stop you from trying to assume that everyone else is as clueless as you. Wouldn't be the first time.

[Timminz]

Oh you guys...

[john9blue]

neither could anyone else.

Wow, john9blue is psychic and knows what other people can or can't see. Who knew.

Maybe to an untrained eye like yours they look like photos, but as someone who works with graphics on a daily basis I can tell the difference pretty easily.

But hey, don't let that stop you from trying to assume that everyone else is as clueless as you. Wouldn't be the first time.

please point out some "unnatural color transitions" that cannot be explained with lighting or camera contrast

[saxitoxin]

You can't put john9blue and natty_dread in the same room together. It's so over the top that I'm pretty sure they're actually in deep, serious, vacation-in-Niagra, 3-hour-make-out-session kind-of love with each other but it's so taboo that they can't admit it to themselves so they try to push each other away.

Anyway, I couldn't tell they were drawings until I was told and I'm still not sure I can tell. But, I'm not very artistic so don't know for what to look.

[Dukasaur]

You can't put john9blue and natty_dread in the same room together. It's so over the top that I'm pretty sure they're actually in deep, serious, vacation-in-Niagra, 3-hour-make-out-session kind-of love with each other but it's so taboo that they can't admit it to themselves so they try to push each other away.

Anyway, I couldn't tell they were drawings until I was told and I'm still not sure I can tell. But, I'm not very artistic so don't know for what to look.

+1

On both paragrapsh.

[natty dread]

You can't put john9blue and natty_dread in the same room together. It's so over the top that I'm pretty sure they're actually in deep, serious, vacation-in-Niagra, 3-hour-make-out-session kind-of love with each other but it's so taboo that they can't admit it to themselves so they try to push each other away.

Saxi, are you writing fanfiction about me?

You are, aren't you. Admit it.

Anyway, I couldn't tell they were drawings until I was told and I'm still not sure I can tell. But, I'm not very artistic so don't know for what to look.

please point out some "unnatural color transitions" that cannot be explained with lighting or camera contrast

Ok, pay attention you two. Firstly, note that I'm not saying these pictures aren't well drawn, they're extremely well made and really amazing. That's not in question here. But you can still see they are drawings pretty easily.

The first image is actually the best example - look at the clothes on those two dudes, mainly the wrinkles on them. The texture of the clothes is just a little bit too artificial and smooth - if you look at the hood on the right side guy, you can see a sort of posterization effect on the different shades, meaning that the boundaries of each shade are a bit too defined.

If you look closely, you can see a sort of artificial quality in a lot of the textures. Image #4 is also a good example, the skin on the guys face, and also the sweater, have this artificial feel, that gives the same kind of effect you can see on realistic movie cgi, where you almost mistake them as real but can still notice they're cgi.

I'd say images #2 and #3 are the hardest to distinguish from real photos, due to both images lacking the smooth surfaces that give away the other images.