We’ve all heard about art imitating life, but an artist has taken the saying to a whole new level with an incredible collection of drawings that reveal a masterful eye for illusion. Using expertly-drawn sketches, Belgian artist Ben Heine blends pencil, photography, imagination and reality – and the results are truly astonishing.
Heine describes himself as a multidisciplinary visual artist who is inspired by people and nature. The 28-year-old grew up in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he lived for seven years with his parents and three sisters before moving back to Brussels in 1990.
He has become well-known for three art concepts he has been working on, including his Pencil vs Camera project. Describing it as ‘full of magic, illusion, poetry and surrealism’, Ben said Pencil vs Camera is ‘new visual invention’ which mixes drawing, photography, imagination and reality.
Check out our favorite images from Ben’s Pencil vs Camera project below, and don’t forget to check out artFido if you’re looking to buy an original piece of art by clicking HERE!
Mixed reality: This incredible sketch has captures the boats on the water sitting alongside a mermaid on a rock. A carefully-cut hole in the paper even makes room for the diver as he prepares to launch himself overboard.
X-ray vision: This man is a little more exposed than he should be in this clever drawing.
Chain gang: These worker ants have been magnified as they walk across the twig in this piece.
Hitching a ride: An old-fashioned tram is seen rattling through a quiet street… but there’s more to this than meets the eye.
Trick of the eye: Ben Heine’s drawing takes optical illusion to a new level as this floor is turned into a giant chessboard (left) and a hand holds a paper aeroplane (right).
Leap of faith: Tiny men are seen jumping from block to block in this sketch. The drawing makes the apartment blocks on the horizon look like the computer game Tetris.
Up in the air: A sits in a swing in the clouds, held aloft by two doves over a mountainous landscape (left) while a dinosaur goes on the rampage… but city dwellers have nothing to fear from this pencil-drawn monster.
On the box: A quirky take on the BBC Breakfast presenters turn them back into two dimensional figures.
This incredible image breathes new life into this snapshot of three smiling children.
‘Full of magic, illusion, poetry and surrealism’: Pencil Vs Camera mixes drawing, photography, imagination and reality.
Dual fuel: This drawing splits the vehicle in two and has tiny toy cars driving through the middle of it.
Great apes: A man is seen turning a camera on human’s earliest ancestors, in this humorous take on the theory of evolution.
Balancing act: A tight rope performer walks among the clouds in this moonlit fantasy (left) while (right) not even tram lines escape the artist’s mischievous eye.
Table for one: One lonely panda, looking for companionship, seeks same… but is he really there?
Delicate steps: Those suffering from vertigo should look away now – this creation turns a pavement into a precarious mass of vertiginous blocks.
Double vision: You could be forgiven for thinking you were under the influence of alcohol looking at this drawing of a cat (left) while this simple coastal road (right) has been transformed by Ben’s technique
What an ass: These two donkeys are given a Heine makeover, complete with crazy sunglasses and thought bubbles.
Global warning: This clever sketch gives a volcano an all together more interesting landscape.
Watch your step! A man with a white stick is seen heading straight towards an open manhole.
Fire starter: The flame on this clever drawing is a devil of an illusion (left) while the koala bear could soon be out of time as the flames creep towards the tree it clings to (right).
Skin and bones: A horse and bird are given the Heine treatment in the artist’s exhibition.
The camera never lies… or does it? The photographer’s eye is met with this fantastical scene (left) while two children are seen climbing among the stars in this celestial drawing (right).
Magnificent landscapes: A little boy on a tricycle gets the Ben Heine treatment (left) as does this mountainous horizon (right).
And don’t forget, if you’re looking for a piece of original art to hang on your walls, check out artFido HERE!
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