Consider Your Mind Blown. The Phenomenally Realistic Graphite Drawings of Kelvin Okafor.

above: graphite drawing in progress by Kelvin Okafor

Kelvin Okafor describes himself as a "Passionate penciled artist. Highly interested in detail and precision." I'd say that's an understatement once you see the phenomenally realistic graphite drawings created by this UK Illustrator. As astounding as the finished pieces are (it's truly difficult to discern whether or not they are photographs until you look extremely closely), the evolution of the drawings shown on his blog, and as videos on his YouTube channel, will blow your mind.


above, clockwise from top left: Timeless, Undeviating and Mana drawings by Kelvin Okafor

I'm sharing my five favorite finished works of his along with some images of his work in progress for you to see what I'm talking about. He almost always begins with the eyes and finishes with the clothing. His ability to render hair is beyond compare. My mind is blown and after viewing these yours will be, too.

Mana
His second drawing of model Mana.
Medium: Graphite pencils/Charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 17 x 24 inches


In progress:


Final drawing of Mana on board:


"Undeviating" (Emmanuel)
A drawing of model Emmanuel, entitled "Undeviating"
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 18 x 22 inches


In progress:


Final drawing of Undeviating (Emmanuel) on board:


Aisha II
His second drawing of Aisha.
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 17 x 24 inches


In progress:



Final drawing of Aisha II on board:


"Timeless" (Jamal)
A drawing of model Jamal, entitled "Timeless."
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 17 x 24 inches

In progress:



Final drawing of Timeless (Jamal) on board:


Adam II
His second drawing of Adam.
Medium: Graphite pencils/black charcoal/black coloured pencil/on sketching paper.
Pencil brand - Faber-Castell
Paper type - Acid Free Cartridge paper 15 x 24 inches


In progress:



Final drawing of Adam II on board:


Kelvin is a graduate from Middlesex University with a B.A. (Hon)s in Fine Art. On his flickr profile he claims that "He aspires to create art as vivid as eyes could see."

I think he's done it.

See all of his work over here on his flickr account. 

A big thanks to Vicki Mayer for bringing Kelvin's work to my attention.

Before Presidents With Boob Faces, There Were Friends With Boob Faces. The Titillating Work of Emily Deutchman.

above: George Washington With Boob Cheeks

above: James Madison With Boob Eyes

Garnering some recent buzz is an oddly compelling project appearing on Tumblr called "Presidents With Boob Faces." A collection of watercolor paintings featuring... you guessed it, past U.S. Presidents with mammaries on their chin, cheeks and/or heads.


above: John Quincy Adams with Boob Head

above: James Monroe with Double Boob Chin

Enigmatically signed with only E. Deutchman and no 'about me' section, some sleuthing has revealed that the artist behind the project is Emily Renee Deutchman, the daughter of Hollywood producer and movie mogul Ira Deutchman.


above: Thomas Jefferson with Boob Chin

above: John Adams with Boob Jowls

Emily, who is a talented watercolorist and illustrator (see Emily Renee Art) and who studied art at Skidmore College, didn't begin by adding breasts to the faces of our Founding Fathers, but instead, began with some other artworks featuring tits as features.


above: Erik With Boob Cheeks

In her entertaining site Sketches of Things she has the following paintings and illustrations of her brother, friends - even a dog- with "Boob Faces," precursors to the project Presidents With Boob Faces.


above: Shit I Draw For My Brother's Birthday

above: BOOBS

In her own words, the following illustrations are presented as " These drawings are part of a sketchbook project I’m working on titled “My Friends With Boob Faces.”:







Emily Renee Art

ARTINFO has a brief interview with Emily about her bizarre project here

Presidents With Boob Faces

Minimalist, Modern Re-Imagined Movie Posters By JoE Chiang of Monster Gallery

Aside from having great taste in movies, Singapore-based artist Joseph Chiang (aka JoE) is a self-professed one-man sweatshop called MonsterGallery.


above: the Dark Knight Rises is his most recent re-imagined movie poster

Creating retro-pop-culture-inspired art and prints, he has a series of re-imagined movie posters for films directed many of my personal favorites: Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Anderson, Sam Mendes, Quentin Tarantino, Michel Gondry, Mike Nichols and other greats.

Wes Anderson Movie Posters Made Minimal:





Hitchcock Classics Re-imagined:



Quentin Tarantino Re-imagined Movie Posters:


Michel Gondry Re-imagined Movie Posters:


Quirky and Wonderful Movies Whose Posters Have Been Re-imagined:



Minimalist Movie Posters of Classic Greats (if you haven't seen all of these, start streaming!)





"Reimagining these posters are my way of paying tribute to the movies which I love. It's also a way to let you hang them on your wall so your friends know how cool you are to like these movies. " – Joseph Chiang, Founder, Monster Gallery

A self-trained artist, painter, photographer and obviously print-maker, his goal is to bring joy to the masses through his art. He updates his works frequently on his Facebook Page.

The Monster Blog

Joseph Chiang's gouache paintings of monsters on wood

Shop for all of these posters (the prices are incredibly reasonable) and many other wonderful pieces by JoE at his Etsy store

Through Wednesday only some of these prints can be purchased at a discount price on Fab. Use this link if you are not a member: http://fab.com/y06r4g