Photo or Fine Art? See if You Can Discern What This Artist Uses for His Colorful Images

Are you an art expert? Do you think these images are photos or paintings?

The pieces are actually drawings by self-taught artist Samuel Silva who uses ballpoint pens to create his stunning, photorealistic images.

Born in Portugal in 1983, Silva has been interested in art since the age of two, from drawing to painting to sculpting. He graduated from law school in 2007 and began drawing with ballpoint pens while earning his degree. He started out creating simple classroom sketches in his notes and has since developed his own unique style.

The ballpoint pen creations take an exceptionally long time to complete, but Silva’s care and patience gives the images that incredible photorealistic appearance that makes them so special. He is also experienced and skilled in other mediums including regular and color pencils, chalk, pastels, oils and acrylics.

Take a look at some of his ballpoint pen pieces here and see the rest on his DeviantArt page.

samuel silva vianaarts_redhead girl

samuel silva vianaarts_horse head

samuel silva vianaarts_ocelot

samuel silva vianaarts_afghan girl

samuel silva vianaarts_angry tiger

samuel silva vianaarts_palace garden kyoto japan

samuel silva vianaarts_eurasian eagle owl

samuel silva vianaarts_pool boy

samuel silva vianaarts_jaguar

samuel silva vianaarts_bald eagle

samuel silva vianaarts_tiger

samuel silva vianaarts_cradled baby

samuel silva vianaarts_swan head

Mikaela Rakos

By Mikaela Rakos

Mikaela is both a writer and content curator for Dashburst, looking to discover and share the latest news, art, entertainment and more. When not tracking down new content to share with the world, you can find Mikaela spending quality time with her rescue dog.