Other Than A Pencil,

I guess a ballpoint pen,

is one of the most common writing implements, all photographs Andrey Poletaev, and I would have thought one of the more difficult tools to use to make pictures from, 

 but not in the hands of Ukrainian-born artist Andrey Poletaev, who is considered one of the world’s premier ballpoint pen artist, and looking at his exquisite works of art, it’s easy to see why,

his expertly drawn city landscapes and portraits are incredibly realistic to the point where they often get mistaken for photographs,

 to achieve this amazing level of realism in his ballpoint pen artworks, Poletaev applies up to twenty layers of pen ink on the canvas, and spends hundreds of hours on a single art piece,

 “In each drawing I refine techniques and embed new ones” Andrey Poletaev said in an interview. “I try to achieve the maximum effect of optical illusion. I apply many different layers of ink; layers of very light and long strokes, applied densely to each other; layers applied at other angles of the hatch to create uniform grey surfaces; layers applied with higher pressure on the pen.”

“Variable density of strokes and the length and angle at which they are applied, sharp and smudged, creates a perception of differently textured surfaces. Some areas of the drawing carry stronger or more defined contrast and contours, and multiple layers of ink create the perception of depth,” the talent artist added, amazing, absolutely amazing, all made with a humble ballpoint pen.