Back in the day, when computers with keyboards weren't so accessible and writing by hand didn't feel extremely odd, the ballpoint pen was everyone's favorite tool for creating art. I bet everyone had one or two doodles in their notebooks, but Samuel Silva took it to another level.
This 37-year-old self-taught Portuguese artist, who goes by VianaArts on social media, started drawing with ballpoint pens at school by simply sketching on the back of his exercise books and even after becoming a lawyer, he didn't give up on his hobby. On the contrary, he has perfected it to the point that his hand-drawn artworks look so hyperrealistic it's hard to believe they are not photographs.
Each of these extraordinary drawings takes from 5 to hundreds of hours, up to 8 standard colored Bic ballpoint pens, and lots of patience to complete. "Ballpoint pens are as underestimated as they are a powerful medium. A tool is only as powerful as the Artist who uses it." Silva wrote on his DeviantArt page. "It's not about what you use, it's about how you use it."
Check out the gallery of Silva's astonishingly detailed portraits and let us know if your jaw is still in place!
