Astonishing portraits you won’t believe aren’t photos
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Jamie Salmon —
British-born Jamie Salmon takes it to the next level. His work plays with scale -- crafting eerily real, too-large 3D self-portraits and figures to create a sense of "heightened reality."
Courtesy Jamie Salmon
Jamie Salmon —
The Vancouver-based artist began his career as a commercial artist, making hyper-real bodies for the movie effects industry, and using silicone rubber, resin, fabric and hair.
Courtesy Jamie Salmon
Gottfried Helnwein —
Gottfried Helnwein frequently depicts children in his gigantic, mesmerizing portraits, along with "low culture" icons including Donald Duck, with the loss of childhood innocence as a reoccurring theme.
Courtesy Studio Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein —
The Austrian artist doesn't shy away from controversial themes, but has been praised from his realistic depictions. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting, Forbes magazine published an article titled "Why Every American Ought To See The Paintings Of Gottfried Helnwein."
Courtesy Studio Helnwein
Robin Eley —
Australia Robin Eley takes weeks to produce these awe-inspiring portraits, reproducing every crease in the plastic wrapping in intricate detail.
Courtesy Robin Eley/101 Exhibit
Robin Eley —
The 36-year-old London-born artist renders these materials using just oil paint and miniature brushes. One work -- featuring a giant ball of aluminum foil -- took over 500 hours to produce.
Courtesy Robin Eley/101 Exhibit
Lee Price —
Lee Price paints women and food. The sumptuously detailed images are often taken from a bird's-eye view, giving a glimpse into the relationship between women and the food they eat.
Courtesy Lee Price
Lee Price —
Many of Price's works -- such as this self-portrait -- take place in private places, and display the comfort that can come with indulging in food, but also the forbidden or compulsive side of eating.
Courtesy Lee Price
Alyssa Monks —
Brooklyn-based Alyssa Monks images blurs the line between hyper-real and painterly. From across a room, her paintings first strike you as incredibly true to life...
Courtesy alyssa monks
Alyssa Monks —
...but, as you approach, they reveal the thick paint and clear brush strokes that make up the image. The 36-year-old says she doesn't merely aim to copy photography but go "beyond what even a photograph can portray."
Courtesy alyssa monks
Samuel Silva —
Portuguese Samuel Silva, 31, calls art a hobby -- in the daytime he's a practicing lawyer. Try playing spot-the-difference with his portraits and see if you can tell the photograph from the hand-drawn art.
Courtesy Samuel Silva
Samuel Silva —
What does the practicing lawyer use to create these astonishing images? Just eight store-bought BIC ballpoint pens.
Courtesy Samuel Silva
Ron Mueck —
Australian-born Ron Meuck led the way in hyper-realistic sculpting. His sculptures manipulate scale and age to create giant babies and infant-sized adults, among other works.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images
Ron Mueck —
The London-based artist's background is also film -- mostly children's entertainment and puppetry -- working on the film Labyrinth before turning to fine art with unnervingly lifelike results.
THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images
Chuck Close —
Chuck Close is the granddaddy of hyper-realism, starting out creating photo-real images -- like this famous self portrait from 1967 -- in the days when art theorists were claiming that portraiture was dead.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Chuck Close —
The American painter's more recent works are still as huge -- six feet plus -- as ever, but break up the portrait image into mosaic-like grids which warp and distort the appearance.
Paul Courson/CNN
Kelvin Okafor —
Internet sensation Kelvin Okafor has earned a legion of followers with his impressive photo-realistic images. The artist's work start as simple pencil outlines, drawn using charcoal and graphite.
Courtesy Kelvin Okafor
Kelvin Okafor —
Pictured here, this portrait of Zoe Saldana is actually a drawing, eat strand of hair intricately produced.
Courtesy Kelvin Okafor
DiegoKoi —
The sparkling, liquid sheen over the photo-real human subjects is so realistic, it's hard to believe they're drawn in pencil.
Courtesy DiegoKoi
DiegoKoi —
25-year-old Italian artist Diego Fazio (DiegoKoi) creates incredible portraits that look almost wet to the touch.
Courtesy DiegoKoi
Kelvin Okafor —
The artist's fascination for drawing with pencils began at eight years old. Pictured here, an early drawing of Adele, before the artist refined his skills further.
Courtesy Kelvin Okafor
Alexa Meade —
Artist Alexa Meade paints directly on to her models, using humans as a walking, talking canvas.
