Self-taught artist, Ivan Hoo, of Singapore has been wowing people all over the world with his unbelievably realistic drawings. The artist’s pieces of art are even more incredible because he creates them all on simple pieces of wood, not canvas or other ordinary art backdrops.
Ivan loved drawing since his early childhood, but he never even considered it anything more than a hobby or something he did for fun. It was only a few years ago that the thirty-two-year-old changed his profession and made the decision to become an artist full-time. This just boggles your mind because of how good he is. Once you see some of his pieces, you’ll definitely agree.
The artist uses colored pencils, pastels, and ink to create his hyper-realistic artwork, but his favorite medium is pastels. He has an uncanny ability to create such vividly realistic, 3D drawings that you honestly wouldn’t know it was merely a drawing until you reached out and touched it.
To elevate his work even more, he creates all of his drawings on simple pieces of wood. The wood background gives a unique texture to the pictures and adds an extra layer to the already lifelike stills.
In an interview, he explained why he chooses to use wood instead of the traditional canvas for his creations. “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.”
Whatever his reasoning, it is obviously working. Check out this video of some of his pieces of art. Each masterpiece takes him a few days to draw, but the wait is well worth it. He has an uncanny ability to draw things that seem to literally jump off the page at you. Not only are Ivan’s reflections and shadows hyper-realistic, but he is able to draw liquids in such a way that they literally look like they are flowing and rippling.
The artist draws a variety of subjects but especially does well with animals and foods. Check out his drawings that include anything from dogs, spilled wine, a Starbucks cup, and so many other things. If you didn’t know better, you might try to reach out and get a spoonful of spilled Nutella from his picture. The most amazing part, though, is that he is completely self-taught – how incredible and inspiring!
