It amazes me what some artist can do with nothing but pencil and paper Can you give me some examples of incredible pencil art?

Oh man, it kills me that you said no colored pencil art, because I have seen some of these that are equally amazing. On a recent trip to the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, I had the opportunity to see the artwork of Carrie Ballantyne. She does mostly colored pencil art, but she has some black and whites as well.

Most of here drawings are portraits of real life cowgirls and hard-working women of the west. As far as black and white pencil art goes, I have still seen some pretty incredible pieces, most of which are Native American artwork done by seemingly unrecognized artists. When I was in high school, I had a few friends (guys that were interested) that would routinely draw me pictures, and one who even drew me a portrait of myself without me even being present.

Few of these guys ever made it as professional artists, and a number of them even succumbed to alcohol and addiction, which is a major problem in much of the Native American population. One of them still draws for me on a regular basis, and sends me his pictures from prison. A lot of the Native American pencil art that I have seen (even amateur stuff) also incorporates hidden symbolic images.

If you have ever seen the paintings or bronze work of Charles Russell, you will notice this in his work as well. A few of the drawings that I have include small feathers that are hidden within and even one that has the hidden face of a fox. Some of the most profound pencil art that I have ever had the opportunity to see has in fact been prison art--penciled drawings intended to send a message and drawn on envelopes, napkins, whatever could be found.

There is a Native American man here in the small town that I live in that is a regular in the local jail. He is a paint huffer, and he never stays long, but he is there at least a few times a month to dry out for a bit. I visited him there on Thanksgiving of last year, bringing him dinner, a soda, and a few pieces of pie.

He was so grateful for that he said that he wanted to draw me some pictures. I arranged to get him some colored pencils and drawing paper, and he produced the most beautiful drawing that I have ever seen in my life. It was of a house and some horses in a pasture, with an old truck off to the side.

When he was finished with it, it looked more like a photograph than anything else.

M.C. Escher, born in 1898 in the Netherlands and died in 1972 was a master with a pencil and paper. He was a graphic artist. I can't imagine how he drew these pictures.

I gotta thank you for asking this question. This has been incredibly fun searching for great pencil art and artists to share with you. I almost don't want to stop!

But anyways, here are the works I chose. I chose them mostly based on their intricate detail and aliveness. I hope you see what I saw in these :).

John S. Gibb (b. 1939 and has received numerous awards in the art community)

Floyd Gentry (b.1950 in Texas and focuses his paintings and sketches in the southwest) Cath Riley (emphasis on three dimensional nature) - I love how.. real this one URL5 may be my favorite out of the three artists .

If you want to see some awesome artwork thats just graphite pencils and charcoal, look up John Amsler. He is a wonderful graphite artist.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.