Realism VS Realistic Art

What makes something a work of art? When does a creation cross that line from being just an exact replica of an existing object, place or person to being something truly special?

Essentially, a piece of work becomes art when the creator succeeds in conveying something of themselves to the viewer. They manage to express their own unique point of view in some small way, and there’s someone on the receiving end to view and interpret their creation.

Art can be truly great when it says something important about society, about life or being human. It can have a lasting effect upon individual people or upon the masses. When art is infused with intentional meaning it can even change the world.

But it doesn’t have to.

Sometimes art is just there for its own sake… to be gazed upon; to be beautiful.
 

So… what are today’s artists trying to say when they create a work of extreme realistic detail? This hyper-realistic style of drawing or painting might be slightly mis-categorized as realism. In the historical sense, Realism as an artistic movement sought to capture and convey the everyday lives of real people, the working class. Realism was concerned with depicting scenes from the life and work of the lower and middle classes, as well as depicting scenes from nature.
 
Realism is one of the most difficult artistic styles to master and can be extremely arduous and time-consuming.

Therein lies the link between what realism actually was as a historical movement and what is perceived as “realism” in today’s art world.

The Modern Version of Realism

For the most part, today’s version of realism in art isn’t solely concerned with portraying the lives of ordinary folks (sometimes it’s quite the opposite, as seen in this article). In an overall sense, modern “realism” consists of creating an almost photographic reproduction of a subject. But if a drawing or a painting is limited to reproducing a subject in exact, minute detail then I think the point has been missed.

Realism should be more than just a painstaking, exact reproduction of something that already exists. To be elevated to the level of “work of art” a painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. should also say a little bit about the artist’s special point of view. They should put a little spin on it to make it their own.

 
As far as modern realism goes, the following portraits are some of the finest examples I’ve ever seen. And judging by their extensive portfolios, all of the artists mentioned below know to take a subject and add their own special touch to it.
 

Beautiful and Realistic Pencil Portraits of Celebrities

Marilyn Monroe close-up by Linda Huber

Linda Huber is an exceptionally talented artist who uses graphite pencils as her artistic medium of choice. You can check out her profile and gallery on DeviantArt.

Gwen Stefani by Rebecca Blair

Rebecca Blair is another gifted artist who has a profile and gallery on DeviantArt. Rebecca has created many art pieces in gorgeous color in addition to plenty of grayscale pencil work – each infused with imagination and style.

Albert Einstein by Nestor Canavarro

Talk about painstaking attention to detail – coupled with a marvelously fertile imagination! Wow. That’s what you’ll discover within Nestor’s profile and gallery up on Behance.

Martin Luther King Jr. by Maíra Poli/Mahbopoli

This artist has created some of the most breathtakingly beautiful pencil portraits I’ve ever seen. I love how Maíra handles light and shadow with such a delicate touch. More portraits and other works can be found on Maira’s profile and gallery up on DeviantArt.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Heather Rooney

Heather is a master of photo-realism and has an absolutely astonishing eye for detail. Excelling in both colored and grayscale portraiture, her work can be viewed on Tumblr and on her website (among other places, as is the case with all of the artists featured here in this article).

Robin Williams by Heather Rooney

Here is another entry by the super hard-working Heather Rooney, this time in full color. All I can say is that “realistic” doesn’t even begin to describe Heather’s artistic style. It’s like gazing at a photo in this portrait of Robin Williams (one of my favorite actors, may he rest in peace).

Grandpa Munster (Al Lewis) by Doctor-Pencil

Another remarkably talented artist, Doctor-Pencil appears to have mastered the techniques of blending and shading and does fantastic work! Believe me, blending in pencil or charcoal and making it appear smooth and seamless is very difficult.

Denzel Washington by AmBr0

The depth and breadth of this individual’s artistic style is staggering. From people to insects, full-color, grayscale… pencils to charcoal. Ambro can do it all. Check out his collection of works on DeviantArt, among other places. Here’s a portrait of another of my favorite actors:

Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) by Maíra Poli/Mahbopoli

I wanted to wrap up with another fantastic creation by Maíra, and being a big Star Wars fan, this portrait seemed appropriate. 🙂 From experience I can say how truly brutal is can be to depict hair in such a flawless manner as this artist has achieved – with the light glinting off of it in the right places, the individual strands being discernable, and so on. And generally speaking, it isn’t exactly easy to get the eyes to line up correctly (accurage eye placement is difficult). So – great job by Mahbopoli!

 
My hat is off to these artists and to artists everywhere who exhibit the patience, skill, talent and tenacity to keep on creating their works of art. Planning and developing a pencil portrait can take weeks – or months – and at times can be unbelievably arduous. I have found that rendering human faces can be particularly challenging, because if something is even a little bit off (like the horizontal alignment of the eyes), it can throw off the entire portrait. So here’s a final “great job!” to these incredibly talented and hard-working creative individuals!

By the way! I found the the featured image at the very top of this article on Adobe Stock. If you happen to be on the lookout for top-quality stock photos, a good source is through Adobe’s most affordable plan, the Photography Plan. With that plan (for only $9.99/month) you should have access to a limited amount of photos for free. It’s still quite an ample amount, with a great variety of photos available. You’ll also get access to the following, all for a low monthly price: