Hyper-Realistic Drawings by Ivan Hoo

I don’t know if his parents intended it or not, but Ivan Hoo’s name may just be a clever play on the iconic hero’s name Ivan Hoe. Puns aside, Ivan is an uber-talented illustrator/painter/all-around artist whose work has slowly been gaining the interest of art bloggers all over the internet. He creates awesome hyper-realistic artwork on slabs of wood.

Hyper-realism is different from photo-realism although they both come from the same discipline. The former strives to fool the viewer into thinking that what he or she is looking at is the real thing through the clever use of shadows, trompe-l’œil, and forced perspective. The latter wants to make the viewer believe that he/she is looking at a photo when it’s actually a painting or an illustration. Ivan is a rising star in the world of Hyper-realistic art and distinguished himself by using a unique medium.

Wood is a trickier medium than say, canvas or paper. The artist has to work against the grain of the wood either by incorporating it into his work, or eliminating it entirely with double layers of paint. Another challenge is the texture of the wood itself. The minute grooves and bumps has the potential to destroy the realistic illusion entirely. The only solution would be to give the working surface of the wood as smooth a finish as possible.

Ivan uses pastels, colored pencils, and ink to create the realistic look and feel of his drawings. In an interview with Bored Panda, he said: “I always love to draw realistic art or artworks that tease the eyes and the brain. By working on wood, it gives me a lot of dimension and ideas to create something close to reality and it works really well with pastels, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look at his deviantART account and don’t forget to check us out in FB and Twitter.