3D Pencils Drawings by Ben Heine

Belgian artist Ben Heine, who started the fascinating ‘Pencil vs Camera’ photo series in 2010, that feature a photograph of sketches held up against a real-life background, has created these stunning pencil sketches that appear to jump out of the canvas. Heine’s technique is known as anamorphosis, an optical illusion that requires the viewer to occupy a very specific vantage point (see Wladimir Inostroza, Alessandro Diddi, and Kurt Wenner). Ben Henine’s specialty is the enormous size of his canvases, large enough for the artist himself to pose with them and become part of the whole composition. The sketches measure 13 feet by 10 feet and are done in freehand before being retouched. Each can take a week to complete.

Ben Heine uses pencil and charcoal for these sketches and can get through 15 pencils and three charcoal sticks per piece, if there are large dark areas in the composition. “I’m actually using a mix of charcoal sticks for the large shadows and thick dark lines and graphite pencils for the smallest details and soft shadows,” Heine said.

The works are part of the aforementioned Pencil Vs Camera series.