hello lady!!!!

i would just like to say that when i look at your drawings/sketches, it makes me smile and happy! they draw me away into “another world” they are amazing and you should be, and i imagine you are, so very very proud of yourself! these are excellent and beautiful artwork.

lachie :)

I too had the initail “art v craftsmanship” thought fly through my head. No doubt there is a high level of drawing skill/virtuosity going on here. But it def goes way beyond that. You can sense a ‘feeling’ in the work - something that wouldn’t be present in a mere tracing. Just awesome stuff! My only question to Linda is: Why in the world do mess around with a camera? You hand/eye/mind are FAR and away better than ANY camera (digital or film) could be.

No need to exort you to not stop and ‘keep up the work’ - you couldn’t stop if you tried. All the best!!

=Alan R.

Brilliant technique but, to me, art implies to create. There is no creation here, just a copy of something. There is no spark of imagination, nothing added that is personal or new. Linda is not bringing anything new to the world. This is just a copy of whatever is on screen or on a table or on a paper.

To copy is not to create art.

In my opinion, Linda’s brilliant technique is being wasted on copying reality. Look at the old masters of the Renaissance, for example, or Impressionism. No master just copied reality, they added their own soul to their work. Linda’s work, though very beautiful and technically brilliant, doesn’t have a soul, doesn’t bring anything new to the rest of the world.

I will have to agree with Artur, is a really nice technique but doesn’t bring anything new… the pictures are there but just like he says no soul….. just try to draw something else different from what the rest of us see, in your point of view..

WTF? “…no creation here, just a copy of something.” I am an artist and believe me, this IS creation. Art is the creative expression of the soul…clearly, Linda’s soul expresses through finite detail. ;0) Nice.

Just the kind of work that deserves treasuring an original piece of it

Artur Says:
“To copy is not to create art.”
“Linda’s work, though very beautiful and technically brilliant, doesn’t have a soul, doesn’t bring anything new to the rest of the world.”

I will have to disagree with Mr. Artur. To me he is saying that photography is not art. Her art shows the soul from within whom she has drawn. Take a look at some of her portraits and tell me there is no soul there…..

If a person wants to know more about and why the Old masters painted the way they did, will have to do some in depth reading to understand that they too put to canvas or paper what their eye seen as interpreted by their mind.

Ms. Huber takes the simple reality of the world and puts it down in graphite bringing it to life. We can and do see the things or beings everyday that she draws, thinking very little of them but when you see the beauty of the way she has captured the light and the shadows on paper, they will turn your head in amazement….

Here is one definition of art:
the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

I know this is a long comment and not many will read all or any of it. I get long winded sometimes…..

Thank you for taking the time to read and Thank you Ms. Huber for sharing your artistic talent with the rest of us.
By the way I do not know Ms. Huber in case you think I am a friend and taking up for her. This is just my opinion.

Ooops I put wrong email on my last comment…

Agree and disagree with Artur. It is art; it is exceptional. However, it is not novel nor creative.

is there any such thing.

jess
http://www.privacy.de.tc

First of all, the work is exquisite. In very good taste and reaches perfection. For all the other commenters, the difference according to me is that between a singer, and a composer/poet. Each have a unique skill, and putting those together is what is needed. I don’t know this artist in person, but all she has to do to impress you people is to see things that are not there!?. There are many renowned artists with artwork which are really doesn’t make sense.

Well ranting continues… But a really good talent and gift from god himself..

Is this art?
http://images.google.com/images?q=bouguereau&hl=en&imgsz=huge

to liken people capable of producing this level of realism to photographers or even some kind of photocopier is either vastly myopic or (hopefullly) an attempt at trolling. In fact I would go as far as to say this is where the art world went wrong, starting with impressionism. Whoops, now I’m trolling.

How can anyone say these artworks have no soul? Any artwork has depth if you know how to look.

And as for asking if this is art…in an art class I took last semester we spent a good deal of time on the question “What is art?” and the conclusion is that if the artist believes what they are making is art, then it is. How can you call much of the “art” these days, which sometimes consists of a single stripe on a canvas, art and not this?

[...] L’artiste s’appelle Linda Huber, et vous pourrez trouver quelques uns de ses dessins ici et [...]

NOT ART? NO SOUL?

ROFL…

People who say this are either art professors or critics.

In my travels, they both suck at their jobs usually because they’re long on theory and short on ability.

Absolutely incredible artist!
Thank you for creating such beauty.

I got into drawing using the same techniques Linda does. It was initially by being a technical draftsman, and applying some of the theory behind Finite Elements.
I have to say that I am borderline on whether this is art or not. Even if it isn’t, however, the reason definitely isn’t for any of the reasons listed above. That’s just jealousy at not having technical talent. People of the non technical fields like flinging around catchy words like “soul” and “personality” but they don’t seem to realize that no piece of paper has “soul” or “personality” and that there is just the natural world, and the manner and accuracy in which we choose to reproduce it.

Of course I also have to mention I nowhere near have the skill of Ms. Huber.

Full marks to the artist for skill.
But what’s the point of duplicating something you can now do more easily with photography? That’s like insisting on connecting to the internet with a 2400 baud modem.
Instead of focussing on what the artist can duplicate by hand, how about what the artist can do with her skill that is more original.

Fantasy Art: Instead of your 2400 baud modem analogy, I think it is more like driving from NY to California instead of flying. You get to the same place but you have two completely different experiences, and one has the potential for an adventure of sorts. Art isn’t about doing everything the ‘easy’ way: if you equate everything artistic with modems and computer hardware, then of course you will not appreciate this artwork.

If you think that this isn’t art, then you would also be opposed to the work of Ansel Adams. Most of his work uses only what nature gave him as a subject: his artistic expression was the manner in which he presented the subject, not the subject which he presented. If you don’t consider this art then you have a very narrow view of art.

Art is not just about presenting a novel subject, it also involves the presentation of a subject in a manner which evokes emotion. Don’t look at this like it’s a photocopy: an artist with integrity will create something which is an expression of their own emotion, and this doesn’t always involve fanciful or imaginary things. There is a lot of joy and pride to be derived from faithfully representing real life in another medium.

To those of you who think this isn’t art, if you haven’t tried graphite I urge you to do so: if you give it an honest shot you’ll appreciate this so much more, even if you just ‘copy’ a photograph.

Thank you Ms. Huber!

Wow! that is amazing. Im dazzled by the fact that people are actually able to do this. my artistic ability level is probably 2/10

Fantastic talent!

Faire croire qu’un dessin puisse se substituer à une potographie : c’est un art sublime ! Chapeau ! From Lyon ( France )
Joyeux Noël à tous .

impressive!

hodad0051, to compare this work to Ansel Adam’s completely misses the point. Adams was a photographer; this woman is a draftsman. Very, very different. Adams = creative artist because he sets up his own shots and comes up with the creative impetus behind them; this woman takes existing photos and draws them.

As someone who works with pencil/graphite/etc. on a pretty regular basis, I have to say that just going out and claiming “oh, graphite is hard, try it before you talk” is pretty useless. ALL art media have their challenges and disadvantages, pros and cons. Not very many people can use art materials, period. That doesn’t instantly make someone an artist.

The work that Ms. Huber is doing IS fantastic, and far and away is better than any other draftsman technique I’ve ever seen. But she has a fine technique. She is simply not an artist in my mind until she draws based off of something OTHER than SOMEONE ELSE’S photograph. If you set up the photo and take it and then draw it, great. If it is someone else’s photo, your creativity has not touched it.

All artists–all GOOD artists, anyway–equally need to know how to render the world around them using a fantastic technique (like this one), but they also have to be full of interesting ideas and views about the world. A child can not be an artist because they haven’t the technique; a craftsman is not an artist because they haven’t an interesting or unique view to bring to the table. I am not saying that everything you see in museums is fabulous, because quite frankly it isn’t. The contemporary art world as a whole has just spiraled into strangeness, and while some of the art is interesting to other artists with a good art theory background, it is completely inaccessible to most people. In my opinion, totally inaccessible work isn’t art either (though the museum operators might disagree with me).

Basically, from an artistic standpoint, Linda’s work is “mostly there.” She just needs to begin regarding these copies as practice, and then taking her own photos (with her own creative ideas) to create actual art.

Chicka, I just read your comment and have to quickly tell you many of the reference photos were taken by me, I love photography! Many were commissions and the photo came from the client.

Art is in the eye of the beholder (I know, I know it’s been said to death) but it really is. I love to draw and love to capture real life in my drawings…I may not be the artist that you want me to be but that’s ok, we’re all different and as long as your happy and make others happy along the way that’s all that matters. :) Merry Christmas ~Linda

To the kind author of this article Thank you!
————————

hodad0051, I loved your analogy!!
————————

To all that left comments: I want to thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts, much appreciated!!

Happppy Holidays! ~Linda
http://midtel.net/~imaginee

Well, the world needs more draftsmen and less artists then.

Keep up the great work Linda!
PS: charge more!

What I don’t understand is why ‘perfect replication of the real world’ is admirable in visual art but everyone just thinks it’s stupid in every other art form. These pictures, to me, are like listening to recordings of cars, or reading an entire novel about cooking spaghetti.

Essentially, everyone with good vision will get exactly the same visual information from an object. What makes art interesting is what happens BEYOND the surface, what happens in the artists brain, because that’s where we truly differ. I can see the same red ball as you, but what I can’t see is your interpretation of the ball. Maybe you have a phobia and your mental image is the ball smacking you in the face so it becomes a frightful object, or maybe you embellish the ball with childhood memories of playing with it. If you were a master artist you could put these things in a painting and I would experience just a tiny, perfect fraction of the ‘real’ you, not just the meat, surface of you. And that’s the point of art.

I guess what I’m saying is these pictures seem to miss the point.

PS, And I’m not saying that your subject matter has to change, either. Just your interpretation. Use your brain not just your eyes.

art? not art?
I thought the first comment, from lachie, says it all:
“…when i look at your drawings/sketches, it makes me smile and happy! they draw me away into “another world…”
That, my dear friends, is art. That is all it is, all it’s ever been. You may like to feel that art should be something grander,but you cannot possess art with your personal definitions. Art belongs to everybody,even the children, and the clumsy.
The art/craft argument is a false one. Evidence of craft may be found in an object, but not of art. That is something we all carry around with us. (This is why someone can litterally tip a pile of rubbish onto a gallery floor and people will come to look at it.)
To be creative you only have to make something. To be “good” you only have to impress enough people, or the right people.
Those who turn their noses up when they say a thing is not art, when they feel a little prouder and a little smarter for their fine discrimination, they are trying to deny another person’s bithright; to share in the joy of something human hands created.

I have absolutely no doubt that someone can be as talented as Linda Huber and draw with such detail and precision as to make her graphite pencil drawings look real. After 40 years of experience, I wouldn’t doubt her at all. I’ve seen some less detailed pencil work look pretty realistic, so it is definitely possible. Kudos to Huber!

Easy to do ON PHOTOSHOP!
De ne neeeeee!

To all those who are saying that this is not art because it is copied from a picture by someone else.. i ask you. If you think this true, and that Linda is therefore not an Artist, does that mean that Paintings of the world are not art? after all, the artist did not set up the natural world to his liking; he/she sits on the harbour and enjoys painting the boats and the sea. that is art. and art can be enjoyed by all.

It’s a cool skill I suppose… but I have a digi cam + pencil filter for photoshop… what’s the diff :P

Use that skill to make some hyper-realistic… more than realistic… fantasy even? And get back to me :P

I guess the difference that everybody keeps missing in the argument over this type of work is the element of involvement of the artist’s creative or inventive frame of mind.

If in drawing these images she’s able to manipulate the subject in order to create a narrative (tell a story), change the way one thinks, or even just to relieve emotional stress, then the works are indeed art. I suppose the fact that people are even discussing her work could lead one to say that it’s art…it’s affecting how we view things and causing us to re-evaluate what art truly is.

I commend her for her dedication to her craft and as an artist myself, I believe that she more than has the skill to adapt her art with a personal touch…as of yet it would appear that she has not but there’s no doubt in my mind that she loves what she does, and that’s all that matters in the end.

God I wish there was a way to set these comments on fire. Please stop spouting your naive theories, it’s embarrassing.

i think people are having the wrong discussion here….

what is art? it was always defined to me as a creation that elicits an emotional reaction from the viewer.

in that aspect, this would be considered art.

the real question is whether or not it is good art.

she is without a doubt proficient and technical with her work. she states she is working from her own reference photos, so she isnt merely copying someone elses photograph (meaning the work is entirely hers).

it is without a doubt art…is it good art? well, thats entirely subjective.

regardless, her talent is irrefutable.

I am upset about all the people saying that the negative comments “have no merit” etc. I think people are entitled to their opinion especially when it comes to artwork.

I am not doubting that this takes some level of skill to draw like this. I have been drawing all of my life, and I can tell you a lot of patience and time went into these drawings. But The photo realism of them is boring, and makes it obvious that these are drawn from a projector (or from a grid as she says).

None of these show any artist originality. This is the kind of art you buy at the mall, or a carnival, because nobody wants perfect photo realistic copies of photographs! Except for rednecks!

She says, “Since I am a commissioned artist I draw what the client wants and guess what, they want realism”. Well I’ll tell you something…Customers have no idea what they want when it comes to artwork. They want aesthetically pleasing to them, and that doesn’t necessarily mean realistic.

I think Linda should take her artistic skill and patience, and put it toward expressing her herself through originality.

I’d love to believe most of those photos were taken by you, but as over half of those pictures are of famous people, I have a very hard time believing it.

Please don’t say that most of your work comes from your own photography when, at least of the works displayed here, it most obviously does not. That makes you look, and sound, more like an art thief than an artist.

And I don’t want you to be any kind of “artist,” I want you to be your own kind of illustrator/draftsperson/artist and your own kind of happy. That’s what matters. If you don’t happen to be an artist in my mind but you’re happy, that’s fine too. Just don’t be an art thief or mislead people. Because in the end, that makes no one happy.

Dear lady,

In the presence of these drawings, I deeply admire your skill and craftsmanship although I can not do without saying that these are mere visual copies of some references. I would very much enjoy your interpretation and visualization of your world through your eyes, instead of the things that each one of us can see. I hope, one day, you draw “what’s going on in your mind”.

Best wishes.

Gino

To Chicka:

None of the reference photos for the drawings posted in this article are mine.

Over the years many (not most) of my own photos were used for reference, here are just a few:

http://midtel.net/~imaginee/shawn_art.jpg
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/lois_art.jpg
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/ebay_little_tiger.jpg
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/shawney_art.jpg
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/sandy_art.jpg
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/ryan_art.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6148/sh03.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6148/k1.jpg

amazing talent
I am very jealous but somewhat inspired
I definely must attempt that invertion technique you do.
your work is incredible.

It’s sad.
People doubting the talent of a “physical” artist because they’re surrounded by edited digital images.
Obviously, such “critics” haven’t spent time offline looking through their -own eyes- at work in museums and galleries.

[...] “”; var td_exclude = “”; Je hebt mensen die tekenen, je hebt kunstenaars en dan heb je Linda Huber. Ongelooflijk wat zij uit haar pen kan toveren, perfectie zonder photoshop. eScene.be Home | Deze [...]

Her work is gorgeous!

Is she an artist or a craftsman…

She has elevated the craft to artistry.
The quality of her work is extremely skilled, controlled, and expressive.

It always amazes me when, just because they couldn’t draw it themselves, people scream ’shopped! I suppose next you’ll be telling us that Renoir had downloaded some cool brushes off the ‘net and did it all on his Ye Olde iMac? I really couldn’t care less if pixels look odd, they probably will do as I assume the pictures are scanned then uploaded… But either way, it’s more art that half a cow in formaldehyde or an unmade bed (and I dont think that was shopped either)

Very impressive, quite the human camera. We have computers that can render verisimilar images and effigies of real people and objects. This reminds me of toy players. No doubt, her work is nice and highly representational and well executed… take a photograph and have the same thing, or better. I strongly feel and believe that art is an interpretation of what we see; in other words: Most people can be thought to follow music notes and time, but, few people (musicians) can interpret those same things and “create” beautiful music, the important word here is create vs reproduce. We all can bask in the coolness of it!!! Where is the creativity of it, the interpretation… I suppose, most of the people will be dazzled by mechanical repetitive actions!!!

Hi, just for anyone that is particularly interested in realistic painters, check out ‘helnwein’, he is a german-irsh painter/sculpter. If you thought these pictures were realistic, you will be totally amazed at helnweins stuff. I thought the pics here were very good, but its important to point out that there is much better out there. I see people are disputing the credibility of the pictures here due to them being copied,you will certainly find alot of emotion in helnweins stuff, alot of it is very dark.

This just amazing you should start teaching class I am sure people would pay alot for lessons from you.
http://ezdeals.co.cc

The artist creates and gives to the world what he or she is…

It is the response of the viewer that matters, whether love or hate, it matters little as long as they respond in some fashion.

we are all merely imitators of life as artists and what we conceive is merely reflection…all else is process.

That ms huber can, does, causes us to reflect upon our own sensibilities. That, I say, is quite enough.

drawing a picture you took = art?
discuss.

my 2 cents: yes, art.
on Linda Huber: posessing this skill is art enough. this is what people love to pay for. plus, we don’t know about the abstract that has been sitting in her closet for 5 years, waiting to be finished. (c’mon, you know we all have one of those.)

ps - since when was photography never an artform (to Dia)?

Yes this is art, no it is not brilliant art. Many artists out there could draw photo realistically it’s just whether they would waste their time doing so. If they are photo realistic, then why not just hang the photo up? It’s technically the same thing?

Also, drawing from a photo and trying to capture every detail is easier than trying to capter every detail in real life. I’d be impress if she could capture the detail in real life rather than capturing a 2D visual. There is a huge difference when you look at the 3D world and translate that to 2D rather than having technology do it for you.

The artist who took those picture was artful in terms of photography, but unfortunately not so much in terms of the reproduced art pieces. It’s like looking at a printed photo of a famous painting vs. looking at the real painting itself.

Nice technique. Not art. Someone elses’ vision, composition, etc….Many art students can do the same. Still, the inanimate objects she draws are far more interesting than the human subjects. Suggestion: take your own photos. Draw from them it that is what rocks your boat. The human subject are excruciatingly kitsch.

This is the kind of “art” photoshop is capable of. There is no creativity

Ok, it looks photorealistic, but she’s just tracing images. This.is.not.ART.

You are amazingly talented! fantastic work, really I have never seen anyone able to draw like you :)

this is most definitely art. to say anything different is just crazy or obvious jealousy.

To Sandy:
I’ve never looked at my style of drawing as wasting my time, I love the time I put into my work and since many of my drawings are work (commissions) I’m hired to draw in this style. Oh and I am far from being a master pencil artist, I agree that there are many that can draw like me.:) My main goal is to draw details that are seen in the 3D world, it’s a personal challenge and one that I plan to keep working patiently at.

To All:
Who I draw may not always be my personal choice (and definitely not yours)…. but, I can say those that commission me are happy with their portrait and I’m happy with the work that went into drawing it. Also, my style may not be your taste and some may not even see me as an artist, I can honestly say I’m fine with that.

Happy New Year! ~Linda

I think this is very well done, however everything is easier with a grid, if it was done free hand…. that would be insane.

I love your work, Ms. Huber.

I really wish I could see it in person, the effect of it may very well be different in person than how it seems over the web. Most artists it seems copy, imitate, or otherwise borrow from others when creating a work. In that sense, nothing is really original. People arguing that it’s just copying should actually pay attention to other artists, as all of them have reference material that they don’t take themselves. Even the Old Masters had models for their works.

On top of that, real traditional artmaking skills are often covered up nowadays…I think it’s simply fantastic that you’re able to manipulate graphite the way you do. It’s not the equivalent of a photograph by any means; you don’t need anything more than a pencil to make it (I’m simplifying, of course), while photography requires much, much more for photorealism, and even then, you don’t always have artists that are striving for photorealism, as there are photo manipulation tricks to change the photo’s reality.

You have an amazing talent, I’m glad you’re happy with your work and what you do. Keep it up!

yes it is an amazing outcome…. but WTF is the point of it?

I am a professional artist, have my designs on posters and product and work as a rock concert poster artist. Today I added a new bookmark, it was for Linda’s site and I changed the heading to “BEST ARTIST EVER”
Linda, your work is an inspiration, I work with technical pens and some of my pieces have taken a year to finish. I thought I was obsessed with detail but the level of mastery you have achieved is amazing.
I care not if I offend from here on, but some of the comments I have read are disgusting. The word art had been hijacked by countless hacks who do not have one millionth the talent that Linda does. I am sure that if we were able to view some of the childlike scribbles they call “art” it would easily be understood where they come from.. .
A place of jealousy.
To call what she does not art, to say she is a copyist, betrays their ignorance of artistic history. The sad fact is that “modern art” which is no longer modern and not art has so skewed the view of what a visual artist is that many pathetic people have the audacity to call themselves artists.
Open a new window and go to Youtube and search for avant garde music.
Imagine this as the soundtrack to your life.
Imagine if you went to your local movie megaplex and paid $15 to watch a blank screen.
Why do people feel the need to destroy a definable skill that produced masterpiece after masterpiece for hundreds of years just because one tiny conman decided to paint Les Demoiselles d’Avignon?
What Cimabue and then Masaccio, then Durer and da Vinci did was try to depict the illusion of three dimensions onto a two dimensional surface.
This is art.
If you fail or do not even attempt to do this then you are not an artist, you are a conman or conwoman and you should thank whatever deity you may or may not believe in that you were born in the last 100 years. If you wished to do this in 1823 you would be committed as a dolt, a child in an adults body who gleefully pushes paint around and calls it art.
All that I felt was wonder and what Linda can do, but when I started to read comments I was floored.
Someone who posted as Artur, please walk into the bathroom and try to find an object that can scoop out your pea brain, or just throw your waste of space that is a body in front of a train.
Harsh?
How dare you belittle this person’s gift? I dare you to respond and link to what you are passing off as “art”. No creation? Are you the only lifeform on your tiny horrid planet?
If for a second you could live in her mind, your tiny pebble brain would crumble. What she does is amazing, something mostartist could never dream to do. Have you worked with graphite? Do you know how infinite are the tones one may be able to create if they had skill? Try to imagine–don’t think in the same model that you impose when you stand like a dullard before the medium you ruin when you begin to “create”–no, for a second get out of your sheep’s clothing and try to pretend you are an artist, just sit and think how creative one has to be to create the still life of the light bulb, to turn an object most of us do not even see into a stunning piece of art.
So many of your fraudulent species, tantamount to the parasites that cause scabies, live on this planet. You are lucky that the greatest con in the arts happened in your lifetime, if not you would be busy stomping muddy puddles with drool staining your tattered t-shirt.
Happy New Year!

I read the comments from the original post and I beg anyone, no I challenge you and the identity you have stolen from people who have talent to POST YOUR WORK SO WE HAVE SOME GAUGE OF YOUR TALENT.
Linda has her work displayed all over the place for your diseased ridden beak to pick over, so wouldn’t it be nice if we could, laugh–sorry, I mean so we could see your “art”?

[...] Source: http://www.here2see.com [...]

as an artist, I know just how much talent,hard work,time, love,SOUL,and talent it takes to be able to draw (Draw, not paint) something that look 99.999% real,like the beautiful art above.To be able to capture emotion and complex expressions in a drawing/painting, is 1 of the hardest things to do as an artist. It doesn’t matter if it’s a copy of an existing picture, I have seen hundreds of drawings (yes including my own) where someone has copied a photo and even though it was very well done,it just didn’t capture the emotion behind the eyes,the subtle change of shape to the face that says that this person is feeling happy,sad,pain,love,or all at the same time. It doesn’t matter weather you draw a completely made up person or copy a photo, if you can’t give life to it, it’s just a face.But it’s still art with soul… Because someone took the time to draw it. If anything, that in itself gives soul to the picture. To those who say the ART above is just a soul less copy of a picture, and that Art implies to create… That drawing was created, no they didn’t create the person or the photo…But the drawing of that photo was created… Created with extreme talent,with a very powerful artists eye. It sounds to me like the person who said it has no soul….. is quite jealous. Hell I’m jealous! I wish I could draw that beautifully, but I’m not so insecure that I have say bad things about something I know is obviously an amazing piece of art.
I will stop before i say too much. I love the beautiful art work above! Keep blowing us all away!
Ry

Wow, beautiful and yet absolutely nothing of the artist shows through.

This makes me sad. It’s tracing for the 21st century. Very lifelike and yet sad…

I found your site through “stumble”…. WOW. I started to sketch a zillion years ago (about 30something), it was short lived, but i have kept those sketches (very few) since then. I have always negated myself… BUT, tonight (at 50), after watching your videos and seeing your works…. you have set a light under my creative fire, and tears came to me at my amazement at how you have “captured” eyes, noses, wine.. etc… I really, truly wish I could be “taught” by you (and maybe I have already, or at least been enlightened by you)… sketching is one thing that REALLy makes me feel passionate… thank you so much

When the ‘bride’ drawing popped in my field of vision, I said “WOW!” And it summed up all my amazement and pleasure in seeing so great a work of art. This is a most passionate art by a most passionate artist.
I love drawing as I also am an artist. I paint, design, and love to sketch human faces on sketch pad and any paper for that matter. And I came to admire the works of Linda. She is wonderful.

Ok, don’t get me wrong. She definitely can draw, but this is not art. You can’t make copies, reproductions, claiming that this is art. Art means another view, feelings and usual stuff expressed in a methaporical way, by paints and draws, it’s not about how well you can draw something so commonplace, even if you draw it fantastic. I can’t see any concept behind all of this, only copies of the copies.
There were so many artists who drawed the human body so well, but their drawings were concerning more the anatomic structure of the body + a real artist draws a sketch really really fast, he doesn’t need little squares to measure his feelings transmited through his paintings/drawings.

There’s no such thing as a “perfect rendering of reality”, not even by means of photography. Thus any rendering of a living form or an object or a landscape entails some degree of art. All we should do is appreciate the artist’s work. Some will annoy me attempting to classify these works within different streams of artistic expression. All I care is: I like it, I dislike it. And I like Linda’s ARTISTIC work. By the way: photoshopping is also artistic.

Speaking as a portrait artist myself,(who will work from photographic source material taken by the commissionee as well as that taken by my own photographer,) I find so many of the comments above quite amusing. As an artisan (i.e. one who earns his/her living from ‘art’)the only consideration is whether the client likes & will pay for the work. All the rest of this talk about whether it’s art or not, is so much hot air. Linda makes some beautiful detailed drawings. They sell. She makes money from them. Some people like them, others do not. This has occurred throughout history. Internet art-critics, indeed critics of every kind are everywhere, and ultimately totally irrelevant. If the work gives pleasure to people, that’s great in my book. A camera, a grid, a projector, or even photoshop are only tools after all, to be used by the artist to achieve a hightened sense of reality in the work, whether the end result is a drawing, or painting, or a cgi film sequence. Open your minds, people… don’t be so hide-bound by your prejudices.

God. After reading these comments,it’s painfully (all the more) obvious that:

Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach.
Those who can do neither, criticize.

Oh, but you just can’t sell art.

One more thing:

“You can’t make copies, reproductions, claiming that this is art.”

Andy Warhol’s soup can. Is that not a copy? Of a bloody SOUP CAN? What sad, sterile lives some of you must lead.

Jesus, Warhol CHANGED the soup can, he toyed with the idea of repetition, he didn’t just draw it again or (in his sake print it again).

These pictures are drawn using the grid method which takes a lot of time and little skill, no joke. And I have to agree that drawing something the exact way it appears in real life is not only boring to look at but has no real purpose in its symbolic existence in the art world.

Art is not only a tool of expression (which I see none here) but a tool to voice an opinion, as all people have individual ideas. These pictures say nothing but “hey look I can draw very realistically but clearly put no meaning behind my art”. This kind of ‘art’ only appeals to people who like pretty-pretty pictures, pictures that don’t make a person think. These are popular with the kind of people who veg out on the couch watching tv, and you ask them what that person just said on the reality show and they have no clue.

those wooden pencils are unconfortable each time you sharpen them the flow in your hand changes. !there is a high level of drawing skill/virtuosity but no goal.

Drawing is art;painting is art. This woman is an extremely skilled person who is drawing like this at this stage of her life. She can do it because as well as having the skill, she has an enormous amount of patience.
If she keeps on working she will no doubt change; she may work quicker, looser or may draw more from her imagination and experience.
All the comments about conmanship in the art world are valid.Some artists’ talent is explaining the ghastly rubbish they turn out.
Whether you like her work or not, this woman is an ARTIST.

take a picture, its archival. btw–what hardness pencil you usin ho?
ps:mine is harder ;)

Yeah right. Like you drew that? I looked up a website on google and found that same picture of the wedding person. OK, maybe you rearranged it, like the mouth, but still! COME ON!

PS:
Even if that was real art, it still would be ugly.

Whats so amazing about this? My dads been doing stuff like this since he was in high school. It takes some talent to achieve this type of realism, I’ll admit that. But more then any thing else it just takes basic skill.
She’s not Columbus and shes not the best in this field of art for sure but like Ali above me said; “drawing something the exact way it appears in real life is not only boring to look at but has no real purpose in its symbolic existence in the art world.”

the only reason this kind of art exists is because it sells to the the average middle class American and most artists can make a comfterble living off of it.

Of course that doesn’t mean i don’t appreciate it

Hay!! Linda..

Awesome works… . i think Your a master in shading and sketching. keep it up. and don’t feel bad with others comments and suggestions.Keep going with what you want to do and what you like to do.

Your Highly Talented person.

Take care
bye
rineesh

I have done similar work in pencil although not as good as this and I have always thought of myself as a copyist or technician rather than an artist. An artist is someone who creates an image. I think many of the masters were excellent technicians since they too copied their images. I should add that I feel that is quite legitimate in terms of making a great piece of art; however the artistic merit lies with the one who created the original image. Never-the-less a copied piece of art can still be considered a work of art created by a brilliant copyist.
This is what I call splitting hairs…..

This is photo-realism, and it has been around for nearly fifty years. Linda Huber is clearly extremely talented and I have nothing but respect for her art, but the poster of this article should understand that what they are gushing over as “the perfect hand” is just the same patience and attention to detail that has been producing this same (or better) quality of work for decades.

Look up some photo-realist painters, that to me is even more impressive than this, as paint is a much more tricky medium.

I won’t comment on the artistic quality of photo-realism, I am a much more stylistic artist and am far more concerned with expressive qualities than mechanical precision, but I don’t presume to detract from another person’s artistic worth merely because a difference in philosophy.

This is absolutely fantastic.
True, you can accomplish the same thing in photoshop. but with all the graphic design artists and tutorials available, it wouldn’t take anywhere near the amount of skill it does to do it by hand…cause it doesn’t matter who you are, no amount of tutorials in the world are going to give you as steady a hand as she.
I really admire the detail and skill put into these.

bridal short hair…

It has since been implemented in most other blogging tools.. As a result, TrackBack spam filters similar to those implemented against…

I like it, it’s cool and all but I have to agree with earlier posts. I feel like art is seeing something that isn’t there. She’s amazing at recreating a photo, but to remake/copy a photo is different than to create a photo. I dunno I guess I’m more a fan of pictures that are surreal because i like the idea of someone imagining all of it up, pictures like these, thought wonderful, lack that creativity of looking beyond the picture

well i want to believe lot of things. But cant

I like how people can ask what the point of this type of work is.. because apparently the enjoyment she gets out of being able to do it, and the people who ask her to do the commissions isn’t enough..?
Not everything has to have some profound meaning to be worthwhile, don’t we all hear the same proverbs about simple pleasures?

Hi Linda,
What a drawing with a graphite pencil ,bulbs
top you have drawn it looks real .

http://howipodwork.blogspot.com

Seriously this arguement is silly. Art is in every body in everything. Art is how a person expresses themselves.

A bead necklace made by a child is artistic, they put their heart into it.

A handmade basket or anything that may be considered a “craft” is artistic. Why bother critiquing someone on how they choose to express themselves?

Even cars can be art! They started off that way at least. It’s in the lines, the color, It’s in the beauty, and the heart of it.

All art is skill and all skills can be artistic, It’s a matter of who is looking at it. Just because somone doesn’t think it is art does not mean it isn’t.

Any person who can have the patience to draw in such fine detail IS contributing to the artistic world. They spur these kinds of conversations and make people think. They cause people to react, or feel.

Isn’t that what makes something artistic? The ability to make people think or feel by seeing?

I know how complicated it can be to get something so life like, I also draw and cartoon, other various things. Being able to spur others is an art in and of itself.

Forget this silly debate and think on what matters, Did YOU feel a specific emotion when looking at these? Did they Trigger some thoughts in your mind? Did they make you wonder? Did you appreciate it?

I bet you answered yes to at least one of those questions didn’t you?

That’s the point behind art.

I enjoy the same type of drawing myself, and this is without a doubt art. No one leaving comments on this page can rival any drawing she does, although I will continue to try.

I only WISH I could draw this well. The old artists were painting what they saw as well, so there is no difference there. Unless you’re into abstract, everything is something that exists and has been seen at some time or another and is put into art in some form.
Get over yourselves, trying to criticize someone who has an amazing talent.

hello…

Not sure that this is true) but thanks…

[...] Artist With a Perfect Hand - This is unbelievable. [...]

Unfortunately, you claimed earlier that some of the photographs WERE yours.

Please refrain from doing that again. It may not bother other people, but it bothers other professionals.

To Chicka:
I was simply referring to my artwork in general, not to the few drawings posted here. :)

I so hate to be rude, and to beat a dead horse, ***but the work on your website isn’t referenced from your own photography, either***.

First clue is that, again, most of those persons/subjects drawn are either famous figures or famous photos; second clue is that your photography shows none of the same finesse in terms of composition, lighting & setup that your pencil work does.

I have seen artists who have a near-perfect hand in practice, and draftspersons and craftsmen who produce works that are fabulous copies. I was truly hoping that, though I didn’t feel you were an artist, you were one of these technically talented people, and you made yourself happy with your work.

I am afraid I have a hard time believing you, both your skill as a draftsperson and your claim that you are an “artist,” when you keep backtracking, over and over.

When you create something that is inspired by another person’s work, especially if it is a copy, you have to cite their work *immediately*. The fact that you didn’t… and even claimed that over half of the photos you copied were yours!… at the very *least* shows that you don’t respect the artistic process. Thus preventing you from being a true artist.

Second, since, in my experience, those who can copy art work to a high degree usually show their original source (both because they they want to show their skill in being able to copy something perfectly, AND because they wish to show that they are not stealing someone’s idea, but merely referencing it), I also severely doubt your skill.

I’m sorry. I really wanted to believe you were a great draftsperson, but you’ve even made me doubt that.

Please rethink how you present your work, your inspiration, and your “skills” to others next time. You might get loads of attention in the short term, but in the end, it only makes you look terrible.

Beautiful! That is talent!

I am with the last guys… draw me a new world!

To Chicka:

I’ve never got into the habit of displaying my reference photos along with my drawings. I can see you have a few trust issues so I will post a couple of my drawings along with my photo references.

This first drawing is of my son Shawn a few years ago. After many many hours in my little photo studio I got some nice shots. But I couldn’t decide on which photo to draw so I asked my online friends to vote for the one they liked best…here are a few of the photos from that session and I’m sure you can pick out which reference I finally did draw. Oh and here is a recent photo of Shawn just incase you do not believe he is my son:
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/shawn_art.jpg
http://imaginee.deviantart.com/art/Shawn-s-Reference-Photos-11631488
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=8908059&albumID=2488579&imageID=53220054
Here is one I did of the most beautiful dog, her name was Lady…. and here is the reference photo, if you would like to see more photos of Lady I have around 200:
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/lady05.jpg
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/lady_lg.jpg
Here is my sisters adorable kitten, I’ve also drawn my sister, my nieces, and many other family members all from my own photos:
http://midtel.net/~imaginee/ebay_little_tiger.jpg
and here is the reference, I have other shots of him if you would like to see them:
http://fc84.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/081/6/9/__brite_eyes_by_imaginee.jpg

I have others but I am getting tired looking for my links of both the reference and drawing. Oh and I only have 48 of my drawings on my main site, I’ve drawn 100’s over the years and yes I have used many of my own references.

I do hope you can now move on to something else. Why don’t you draw something new, then post a link to it here for all of us to enjoy :)

Acho que vc vai gostar.

Bjs,
papi

Parabéns pelas obras de arte, talento nasce c a gente, ñ se compra e nem se ganha…nota 10!!
CD.´.

After reading the comments, i don’t think anyone here understands, i just have to laugh at many of your comments guys tbh, the thing is, everyone here is trying to define IF what she do is art or if it’s not.

The thing is the artist pulls whatever he feels like doing out of his feelings and expresses his soul in the way he fells suits him, she chooses to draw realistic situations? perfect its her way of expressing art, some people will appreciate it some wont. Some dude feels like dropping random mixtures of color, some one will like it some wont.

To resume art is what the artist chooses it to be, after all it is HIS child, and its not our place to criticize, if you don’t like her drawings, simply turn the page and ignore her way of expression.

these are the best drawings I have ever seen! They are just stunning and you people should stop fighting whether it’s art or not and just appreciate the talent this woman has!

Dear all,

Littlewren’s comments hit the nail.

All this confusion concerning
1. the definition and purpose of art as well as
2. the ownership and copyright on works of art
can be resolved.

This is what people need to realize:

There is not such a thing as free will.

Think it through, if you dare.

The craftsmenship is ALSO the result of 5 billion years of evolving DNA.

THAT is beautiful.
That IS beatiful.
That is BEAUTIFUL.

Art is incorporated in about anything that we humans create: Buildings, graffiti, clothing, photos, writing, cars, etc. etc.
This type of art is impressive for the technical part but it is not creative in my opinion. It is realism to the extreme, but I would like to see something out of the imagination of the artist or through her personal “filter”. Copying up to the millimeter level does not imply “the touch of soul”.
Anyway, the perception of what is art or not and what is “good” or “bad” (if any) art is as subjective as the artistic expression itself. My guess is that people in this (long) discussion who praise this work if presented with an impressionistic or say pop art painting would valuate it as artistically inferior whereas the opposite would be true for those who dislike it.

:(
Its very depressing to read a lot of comments there that says this is not art and Linda not an artist because it is copied from a photograph. If they had known some history of art, they would have known that many great artist has done the same thing since the invention of camera. In those time, the earliest camera, camera obscura, has been used by many artist to give their drawing some realism. They used it to project a scene into paper then trace it. But still, this works and many others, are considered high quality art and fetches for high prices.

If they argue that this is not art it is copied, then they had overlook the very idea behind every art. Artist, for every good or bad art they made of, had always copied, from the very earliest time man that started to become one. Isn’t trying to make a likeness just “copying”? Aren’t all the portraits a “copy” of what those people look like? Even fantasy art, is just a juxtaposition of many parts copied from variety of sources.

After all, even if these drawings are attempts to make it look like the original, there is still this unconscious effort to distort what we see, not including the limitation of the art material that makes it unable to truly copy the real thing. I mean, look at her drawing of the light bulb. Would looking at a light bulb give you the same feeling as her drawing? Say, if you use the same reference photo as she uses and try to draw it too, would your drawing be like her in every way? This “difference” is what we always had named self-expression. This always came out even on things where we try not to. Even in photography, the art that makes closest copy of reality, still show this distortion. You would choice the subject that has interest to you. You adjust the view finder so that the the picture would look good to you. And if your into it enough, you may use filters, change the lighting, adjust the exposure, make people change their position, do some special developing techniques and if you have a digital camera, you do digital editing… all distort the resulting picture to conform to you.

Some people just say this can be done on some photo editing software and implies “this is not art since it does not requires creativity to achieve the same effect, just a digital camera and a software”. They have not realized that doing such editing, and other editing that is available, is a creative act itself. It is the act of creativity that make you change the picture to make it more “beautiful”. Also, this posted pictures are not the drawings themselves, just like prints of Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” you see on books are not the painting. Seeing this pictures is different from seeing the drawing. This applies to all art there is.

This whole argument over “this is art” and “this is not art” is really redundant. The term “Art” had never been concrete and its idea had varied in time. Long time ago “Art” has been reserved only to paintings and sculptures that has been made to exquisite beauty (drawings, writing, fashion and other thing we consider “Art” now are not “Art” then at those times). Now we could even say that a canvass that contains just splatters and dribbles of paint “Art” and and who ever done it an artist.

By the way. “Art” is now applied to anything that is made by man. Whether its quite plain and ordinary like a pile of logs and drinking glass. Or common like cars and houses. Or to something quite beautiful like clothes and jewelries. To quite extraordinary but like the Eiffel Tower and jet planes.

Here’s a thought for those who think this isn’t art but impressionism is. Which of the two can be faked? Here’s a clue: if I gave you a couple of pencils, erasers and a sheet of paper do you think you could fake a piece of work like Linda Huber’s?

The answer is “no”, of course. You’d have to sit there and put in the hours, the effort and the passion to get the desired results.

Now if I said to you here’s the same equipment but draw an impressionist version you could fake it in a matter of minutes no matter what your ability or experience.

What annoys certain people about Linda’s kind of art is that there is no pretence, no garbage art-speak, no ridiculous justification or investigation. It’s reason and it’s beauty are right there in black and white.

People who like to think they know about art (most of them never having picked up a brush) want there to be something more because they’ve grown up with awful impressionistic and abstract art that needs whole paragraphs just to explain what it is and what it’s for. Ironically these lengthy interpretations are invariably nonsense. Art like this needs no such drivel. Asking for it would be as redundant as asking a photographer “why did you photograph that beautiful sunset?”

As an artist myself I know that drawing like this takes a lot of time and patience and it is indeed art. Art ,I believe, in its purest form.

What else are pencils and brushes for other than recording what we can see, be it in our mind or before our eyes?

Some here would like her to not copy exactly but somehow inject some “soul” into the drawing; go against her instincts for detail and add a few bells and whistles so it didn’t look so photo realistic. If she did this consciously and deliberately she would be a con-artist and what you would be seeing would not be art it would be fake.

Some may say there is no technique. Attention to detail is the technique and yes it takes time and effort to learn.

Technically perfect, creatively dead.

I hate the fact that people drool over this kind of stuff. As an ex-realism artist, I would have to say–if you want to look at something like this, go look at a damn photo.

Doing something original is infinitely more liberating and interesting to look at. There are millions of people who can draw beautifully from photographs. It takes something special to create something like you’ve never seen before. That is a /true/ artist.

לא תאמינו שזה ציור - מומלץ…

תסתכלו בציור של המנורה ולא תאמינו שמדובר בציור ולא בצילום….

To Kendra: I also knew millions of people who could draw beautifully without photographs too
(Leonardo. Picasso, Durer, …). And more could be found by Googling or reading good books. So does that means they are not true artist because they are too many too?

Whether intentional or not. Your arguments does not support your assertions.

To Ben: I agree with you that what she do is indeed art. Realism, like hers, had been done by many artist for years. I’m sometimes confused with these people, wondering why they say its not art because of its realism, when realism has been in aspects of art for years. It only need one look at master artist works to see this.

In order to end this sense of “its not art, it is ‘copying’” nonsense, before putting such arguments, Google for paintings of the Pop artist Jasper Johns and his paintings of American flags, and Andy Warhol and his paintings of Campbells Soup cans. I hope their works would enlighten you.

Just because Linda is not in the list of Master Artist where Leonardo, Picasso, and others are, does not mean she is not one and you to be free to place your heart stinging opinions without much thought, thinking that what you said does not produce painful consequences. Saying to someone “your not an artist because of so and so” mindlessly to a person who devote ones life to perfect one skills in ones art form is downright insulting to the person and others as well.

Very nice artwork. But please don’t waste your talent drawing American Idols - you’re better than that.

I suppose these people would say early artists were just copying when using live models. There is no difference. I think these people are confused; artisans create while artists produce beautiful things, evoke emotions or are skilled, all of which pertain to you.
In a world where we are losing all forms of this precious craft to technology do not let these negative comments dissuade you. Remember people degrade other people to make themselves feel better. Your work is stunning.

[...] of graphite pencils These are incredibly realistic looking and how she does it as [...]

these are quite amazing!

Amazing truly amazing. And to all of you saying you are artists, and that this is not art, stop being so pretentious, this is art, just appreciate it for what it is. Open your mind a little.

I hate UB40

OMG! You are my new hero! You have such talent, I’m green with envy! :)

WOW!

G

p.s - @Kendra, if you have nothing constructive to say then STFU!

i’ve actually come across Linda’s work before online. actually earlier in the week. great work!

sometimes i think we need to look back at books and published articles on what is art and the philosophy of art. society has tried to determine what art is for hundreds and hundreds of years. there is no win for art. in my opinion there are three main factors when dealing with art, communication, craftsmanship, and theory\ideas. there’s probably more but its not as black and white as everyone thinks. overall history would say that this is art, and most definitely if it survived into the far future. if you look at ancient artifacts that are considered art–most of it is just simply mass produced.

most art is considered art by popularity. the more that it’s well known the more that people will notice it and it will effectively make an impact on our people’s future as long as it remains popular. it’s like all of those Christmas jingles or celebrities that we know by name because of popular knowledge.

in today’s society of the way the world works, we’re all doing what has not happened yet. everything we’re doing as apart of human kind–its all new. traveling space, curing ourselves from some really terrible diseases, and even drawing. i’d consider drawing to even be new because no two same people will ever draw at the same time, make the same approach or follow throw with something the exact same way because we all have too many things to consider at any given time as human beings. we justify our individuality by making our mark–and having to prove it to the world with ridiculous validation processes. at least that’s what i think.

i’m not saying anyone’s right or wrong, i just think everything is art. some of it is more noticed than the rest. i’d love to be wrong. and with that said, awesome work you’ve got going Linda.

It’s quite amusing / frustrating / annoying reading many of the comments here. For my own part, I don’t see the point of such realism in painting or drawing as we have cameras that do this job now. If she adds something to the picture, or draws from her imagination to create a piece that does not exist in reality, then that would be worth while, but to draw purely from photographs and static references (i.e. not a 3D object in the real world) with no individual style or flare is rather pointless. It really might as well have been scanned into the computer from a photograph and then printed out (the only difference is that she is the printer - yes I am comparing her on this level to a mindless machine as her verbatim reproductions show the same level of intelligence).

On the flip side, I know the simple joy of being able to draw something well, and this is the only reason I can see why anyone would do what this artist does. Nobody in their right mind is going to pay her for 80 hours’ work to reproduce a photograph which already exists but in graphite, that would just be silly.

As for the viewer experience, that is subjective, but I don’t believe there can be a fraction of the joy that the artist got out of actually creating the piece, as the viewer might as well be looking at the photograph it’s been copied from.

To the Graphic designer-
While it appears you are proud of your career as suggested by your choice of screen name your commentary drips with frustration at your mainstream averageness. So if you are employed yet failed to become highly aclaimed or renowned you will not feel better trying to clip someone else’s wings. If you read your comment with some objectivity you will see how bitter you sound, don’t be afraid to let someone shine.

All about Digimon Adventure Online Game. Digimon Adventure Fans Blog….

…Digimon is a small virtual pet. You can download and play an online RPG in the Digimon universe. It looks and feels like 2D graphic RPG adventure. You can train and level up your Digimon, make hundreds of quests, and travel through a huge universe a…

wow!!! your really good take a look at some of my art please! Tell me what you think http://cardman.deviantart.com/ id love to hear from you! Send me and email Please!

beautiful,weel done photos.

Fells Point…

I appreciate your opinion in this matter. Being that this is close to my area of expertise I fully agree. There are many things to say about Baltimore….

electric projector screen…

I never thought I will agree with this opinion, but you know… I agree partially now…

of course its an unbelievable great work.

just, in my opinion, this is not art because she is just reflecting the reality. she isnt creating anything by herself. and art is not measured on how good your hands are, actually.

Wow, lots of critical morons here. I draw realistically, too. Does this mean I’m not an artist? Sheesh! Those that say anyone can draw like this, then show me how many people you know in everyday life that are even good at art, let alone this good. It’s not that many, maybe less than 10 percent of the people that you know are even good at art.

Linda, don’t listen to the negative idiots, they are jealous. All I know is you inspire me and that I need to dust off my drawing pencils once again. Dang, I thought my art was good, but you put my art to shame. Ok, time to go practice some more!

I cannot beleive the looser who said that this is not art, it`s just copying reality. Try and draw me something as perfect as this and come back to me…. he says he`s also an artist ? Well just for saying that, it prove he is not !

Those drawing are so perfect and i`ve never seen someone talented like that ! i wish i was that good :( it`s so hard…

I’d honestly like to see the people who claims that this “is not real art” try to produce the same quality work. Yes, art is partly about reaching new boundaries, creativity, and innovation but real craftsmanship should never be overlooked. Realism requires real SKILL and PRACTICE, and anyone claiming that it isn’t art should take a year or two learning the history of art and how all the truly great artists of the ages spent countless years mastering this exact technique before embarking on a search for their own contemporary styles. I can’t begin to describe how refreshing it is to see an artist actually spend the time and energy to create these types of works. Sadly, too many young artists these days believe that just “talent” can make up for their neglect of true practice and hard work.

Anyone who is saying that copying something or making it realistic isn’t art, should do a search for the term “trompe l’oeil.” That is French for “to trick the eye.” Realistic art isn’t new, but it takes lots of patience and talent.

As for the masters, many of them used mirrors to reflect the subject onto the canvas. This is just like using a projector. Why else do you think so many famous paintings show left handed models? The mirror reflects the subject backwards. Does this make them a lesser artist? No, whatever helps them to accomplish the desired result.

Once again, Linda you rock!

The beauty of art is that there are no rules. There is no right or wrong. It can be anything you want it to be. Realistic, abstract, erotic, gross, fanstasy, impressionism, anything you want. Who is to say this is “not” art. It is like saying any sound that comes out of an instrument is not music. How is that possible? It may not be your choice of music, but it is music. Art is the same. It is what you want it to be. Art is not meant to please everybody.

I am stunned by the artist’s ability and skill, but my only question is - what’s the point? When the same result can be achieved in seconds with a camera (and usually already has as most of her work is “primarily from reference photos”) I completely fail to see what value has been added.

Why for example, would a bride want a hand drawn exact duplicate of her photos (which when mounted for display she would have to actually point out to people were hand drawn) other than as some vain display of opulence and grandeur?

Art is objective. And I am thankful that we live in a country that we have the right to enjoy art in all of it’s forms; regardless of whether we agree with it’s perception, style, medium, genre, statement or how it’s created.

What seperates an Artist from the common community is their ability to transfer an idea thru a medium to create an item, from something that it is not. This woman, is an artist. She has developed her skill, and transfered her ideas from one place - be it her imagination or another visual place, ie.. nature, still life, photograph etc… she created that image - developed it, brought it to life from a plane white blank piece of paper. And she did it with perfection using a pencil! Remarkably! Only an artist can have a love for creating that would give a person the tenacity to spend the time it takes to create such grace from a blank canvas or surface, with the skill and perfection that Ms. Huber has dedicated to her talent.

Some people have taken issue with the artist’s technique, criticizing it as lifeless and unoriginal. They say it brings “nothing new.” But it does bring something new… amazement. How is that not art?

The fact that an artist with such resounding skill has to defend her chosen style is a sad testimony to the state-of-mind in our world of art today.

We understand music. Some prefer the more strict discipline of trying to play in a symphony or marching band, while others prefer to groove to the more interpretative and free flowing sounds of Jazz, Blues or Soul as musicians get together for a “jam” session. In music, the participants of all disciplines are still considered musicians and they admired for their skill in their particular style and discipline.

But in the world of art, everybody is expected to play Jazz, and those who wish to pursue a different path are impugned. Those who find beauty outside of the Jazz mold are not only expected to conform, but are subjected to harsh and “corrective” criticism designed to bring them into conformance.

In order to be a “real” artist, one must paint in one of the varied surrealistic styles; but surrealism it must be.

This person is a Master. At some point in the future, even though it may be in centuries to come, we won’t all be subjected to the mindless parroting of the same droll blather. When that day comes the skill of this artist will be recognized and the appropriate respect given.

As for me, I would like to tell this artist that despite her drawing American Idol contestants, this is “magnificent” work. Job well done. :^)

How can anyone say this has no soul, no spark? So much work, so much patience is built in every inch of each of this master pieces that anyone coud say something so stupid and ridiculous.
I realize that not everyone can understand the way someone feels doing something they love and doing it so well! This is just amazing work and just to see it and knowing that human hand can do it as well as a digital camera (maybe even better) which has the soul built-in brings up the smile upon my face.
I love these!
Linda, i wish u all the best and hope u’ll keep up this amazing work for many years to come.

exelent work!!
i just don’t get those narrow minded jelous opinionated freaks that use ther words to bring someone’s talent down, I bet they cannot even draw a smiley!!!
fools!!!

What is art? nobody can really give an accurate answer to this since everyone has their own concept of what it is…

i believe that artists most put down their own philosophy when it comes to criticize somebody else art & try to understand the artist mind through their work. To find soul or whatever you call it in someone else artwork i most tell you cant be done through your own concept.

Linda is a great artist whether you like it or not, she puts passion & dedication to her work & she is good at it:)

& dont worry Linda if some of this artists dont like it the people who pay you for your work are really grateful & happy about it besides your personal satisfaction is the only thing you really need;)

awesome n inspirational
salute to the artist
kisses to this wonderful lady for her inspiring work

i see that lot many people are criticizing about a realistic art… no comments.

just want those critics to sit back n just marvel at the artist’s talent n work for its simple beauty.

this is a human effort which celebrates life n everyday beauty

forget all those cerebral arguments and just see the simple creation of art

This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! I’m trying to better myself as an artist and just seeing these pictures give me hope, that one day I just may be able to get like this. I applaud the artist, these pictures are just fantastic!

“Is This Art?”
A debate among strangers

I feel there is a pretty wide consensus among human beings as to what can be considered ART. Art massages your love muscles. It tenderizes your brain steak. It makes you think maybe you shouldn’t have left half a bottle of Sherry where your roommate could see it. All that awesome shit. Just like pornography; it’s hard to describe, but you know it when you see it. Some artists go out of their way to prove you can’t *really* define it, but they’re just trying to get attention.

There are obviously some gray areas - like these pencil renderings (zing!)- and I suppose people have different priorities, (form vs fungus, etc.) but personally I don’t think a carbon copy of cheesy pet/wedding/macro photography is very artistic, no matter how long you spend doing it. I admire the RENDOGRAPHIC SKILL involved, but that’s all I can say! There is no meaning here at all, no insight into THE HUMAN CONDITION, or the NONHUMAN CONDITION. It’s a random assortment of superficial stock-images. Therefore: Beautiful, but not ART in the sense of “ART” ART.

You could probably consider this a TESTAMENT to the HUMAN SPIRIT? To never give up, even in the face of hand-drawing A MILLION TINY JACK RUSSEL HAIRS? You probably could.

But at the END OF THE DAY, they just look like cheesy black and white photographs. They’re not photographs? Well, THEY MIGHT AS WELL BE.

0.I.0
v…v
.000.
MMMM

No offense.

you ALL need to get a life…seriously

arguing about are has to be in the top 10 biggest waists of time EVER

have a nice day

“Is arguing about are a waist of time?”
Art vs waste; an analysis

My good sir! Arguing about art has to be one of the most stimulating experiences available to modern man. It forces you to re-examine yourself, others, society, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos, why, the very essence of existence! To claim it a waste of time is preposterous! By extension you are declaring art to be a waste of time, and by further extension you pronounce life a waste of time, and therefore, all of creation. I submit that you, sir, are a nihilist!

I will defend my right to debate art until my dying breath!

Do you ever do drawings in colour?

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The child’s home life needs to buy viagra support his or her educational goals. An organized, quiet study place is needed. A balance between weight loss, rest, play, and study should be maintained….

“Art” is in the eye of the beholder as well as beauty in my mind, making it a matter of personal taste. There will never be a shortage of eyes and beholders to bloviate about the “is in”.

I’m 17 and I find it very important to develop my drawing skills. I’ve got some talent since I was kid but I started to work seriously only a year ago. Is it too late maybe? Can I see your drawings from the time you were around 17? You are amazing.
Wish you best.

Answer to me :)

while impressive, this is exactly the kind of drawing that a lot of artists can’t stand. Just like her pencils, her drawings are mechanical. I give her credit for keeping some life in the drawings, but on the downside, she is completely dependent on photos and is contributing nothing original. She is a good mimic. If you asked her to draw a woman in a 5 minute pose or asked her to explore her imagination, I don’t think she would be up to the challenge.

Art is making something from nothing, taking a plain white paper or canvas and creating something new and beautiful. If this isnt art then i dont know what is. Keep up the incredible work and dont listen to any of these haters, they’re just jealous :D

I’ll just put this out there and say that those portraits are actually terrible. They have no sense of the planes of the face, just a mushy, pillowy sort of shading. They’re not even perfectly photorealistic, and if a photorealist wants me to respect they’re dubious ‘art form’ then it had better be bloody perfect. In my high school art class there were better portrait artists than this woman.

even I’m better at photorealism than her, and that’s not even bragging because any artist worth their pacer pencil and 20 hours of soul-numbing labour will tell you this is a boring waste of time. It’s like a novelist sitting down with a pen and note paper to copy out 400 pages of War and Peace or whatever. At the end they’ll just look at it and say “why the hell didn’t I just stick that in the photocopier”

omg, what’s the point? The woman loves what she does, what more is needed? No soul? You need to stop looking and start seeing! The play of light and shadow, the depth of detail, how many people can look at a real life object and ’see’ that, let alone render it visible to others?

Joseph Campbell said something along the lines of ‘if you want to insult an artist, ask him what his work means; if the artist wants to insult you, he’ll tell you.’

Kudos to Ms Huber for not insulting anyone.

@Artur - very early comment.

It has been demonstrated that many of the old “masters” may well have used projection techniques to apply an image to a wall or canvas which they copied. In much the same way as you might project a photo onto a wall and then paint it in.

So many new comments since last I was here. Thank you to everyone that took the time to leave their thoughts. I will say I enjoy reading all the comments and as always I respect them as well. Drawing in this style is what I love to do, I know it does not fall into many art categories, but I’m very fine with that.

I have some news to share, I will be featured on a Japan TV show called “Unbelievable”. A camera crew from NYC came to my home, filmed my artwork, filmed me drawing and interviewed me, It was such a great honor and also a veeeery exciting day. The show airs in June, details will be placed on my site.

Rebecca: copying the text in a book and coping a photo reference is a bit different. :) I don’t claim to be a photorealism artist, I would love to see your work, I say this in all honestly because I enjoy seeing work in that style.

Take care everyone ~Linda

Linda Huber, you are amazing. I’m sixteen years old and have only been drawing for a few years. I look up to you so much. I hope I can someday do artworks half as beautiful as what you’ve done!

hey lady ,
your drawing is only good,some drawing not so good ,its ok nice….

hey ,your drawing is fucking

any of you pukeheads who say this isn’t art. I dare you to pick up a pencil right now and TRY to do what this wonderful woman does. Go ahead and try. have fun failing.

Wow…she is incredible.
This is so realistic that it makes me wonder what it would be like if she decided to draw mythical animals.
Regardless, what she does is mind-blowing. Again, wow.

these are incredible do they ever look real :P

I love realism and draw it myself. I take the genre to the extreme. My goal, my pride is to make it look exactly like a [B&W] photograph no matter what the source could be using only a No. 2 pencil, graphite pencil and a folded paper for shading. There is one or two of your pictures that stand out and are absolutely spectacular while the others still hold a “cartoonish” look to them, the rest are a mix of both.

In answer to your question: Yes, there are artists with perfect hands,…even more so if that artist is a natural with NO schooling at all. Anyone can pick up a pencil and draw. Only the gifted can create a true masterpiece.

its very reality and amazing,
i like this type of drawings.

THATS SO COOL! I WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO DO THAT. WHOEVER WROTE THAT THIS ISNT ART OR ISINT IMAGINAIVE OR WHATEVER BETTER STOP BECAUSE THIS IS ART.ITS AMAZING.

there seems to be a debate wether this is art. I think it is. The fact that she can draw what we see is incredible. Art doesn’t have to be perfect and not always creative. People should stop being so rude because linda is someone who loves to draw portraits and the way she does is creative itself. Nothing is perfect it can be close but not perfect. Amazing work btw.

This is the style of ‘drawing’ that I do myself. If you do not appreciate the skill and number of hours it takes to accomplish this - get an Etch-A-Sketch.