Welcome to the third volume!
I'm really delighted by how well these articles seem to go down; thank you so much for taking the time to read and appreciate them and to admire these artists.

Some intriguing pieces of art can fool the eye. No doubt you have glimpsed such works on deviantART before – you believe you’re about to view a photograph when you click the thumbnail, but upon finally viewing the image in full, you realise that you’re looking at a piece that demonstrates a mastery of texture and lighting and most definitely hasn’t been captured with a camera, but rather with the artist’s brush, pencil, graphics tablet or mouse – and their skill. This is a feature for those of you learning and experienced artists alike, who strive to achieve accurate and believable studies of landscape, objects, animals, people and the rest of the world around us.

Traditional Art – Black and White (pencils, charcoal etc)
To create a realistic drawing, an artist requires knowledge of how to translate colour into tonal values, and then represent these values complete with textures on the paper:
Out of a gallery full of beautiful portraits, *Zindy’s “Jenson Ackles” stood out to me – the softly blended dark shadow falling over the side of his face is beautifully executed, along with other velvety textures in the piece, such as the hair.
Have a look at the finally detailed fur in brand new deviant ~fa-BIA-na’s “Dog” – I hope this artist will have lots more work of this quality to show us in the near future!
Although a simple study of a single shoe, ~AmyHiley’s Gucci demonstrates an eye for detail (look at the tiny stitches in the shoe strap) and a great shiny texture.
Whilst the subject of the painting is somewhat surreal, I simply couldn’t resist including ~straycat27’s “Untitled”. The zip and skin texture look so plausible that this strange scene is made quite disquieting in its realism!

Traditional Art – Colour (paint etc)
Painting and colouring accurately requires an eye for hue and a confident hand at the reins of what can be unpredictable media:
With its muted tones and carefully thought out composition, ~KUCPM’s “ Pastime” is a sports-based still life to be admired, especially as it is a watercolour piece – many find this a most fickle medium!
I came across ~traits a few weeks ago and was itching to feature her work, but at the time she only had one piece in her gallery. Now that it’s padded out a little, I strongly recommend you have a look at her beautiful paintings, all of which show the same stunningly intricate detail as “Eastern Meadow Lark”.
I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at with my first glance at *LenasArtWorXS’s “Train Tunnel Sawblade” – this is a fantastic painting on a ‘canvas’ I’ve never seen before – a sawblade! The composition really works with the circular shape, using the hole in the centre of the blade as the tunnel entrance.
This one’s a bit of a jawdropper; I knew ~Shondrea’s “These Walls Have Eyes” was definitely to be included in this third article as soon as it was suggested! What can I say? Simply gorgeous; with attention to reflection and lighting as well as ‘tangible’ surfaces.

Digital Art – Painting, Airbrushing, Drawing, etc
A realistic digital painting requires patience for details, and such artists work hard to recreate natural and real textures with ‘virtual’ brushes:
Many of you will have seen *mahirates’s work, but take a closer look at the detail shot of “The Mermaid in the Desert” and admire the water and the very realistic hair textures.
A very well done oekaki, *Yayster’s “Realism: Blue and Yellow Macaw” is an eyecatching display of vibrant colour and almost touchable feathers.
~CountJorge must have a lot of patience to create all of the city lights in “Shinjuku” – they really do look like they’re glowing!
Absolutely amazing - there’s not a detail missed out in ~mazhear’s “Beauty” – everything is included from the little wrinkles around the eye to tiny, tiny, light hairs on the surface of the cheek.
Digital Art – Vector and Vexel
I tend to regard skill in vector art as an ability to ‘summarize’ an image whilst still ensuring that it is convincing – admire these works as the artists create plausible shadows even for softer textures using curves and polygons:
She’s a little risque, but you have to admit she’s well rendered! ~Weapon3GX’s “Ms. Cindy” could well convince anyone at a glance that she’s real – check out the hair; whilst it shows signs of vector work, it is easy to see how much effort and attention to detail has gone into it.
A lush scene with plenty of work done to the leaves of the trees to make them seem real, ~zentz’s “Green Park” is a vector piece to be admired.
Vehicles are an extremely popular subject for vector art and are very much flattered by this style of illustration, so it was hard to pick one to feature, but eventually I discovered ~birolsedat’s “BMW-M6”. Take a close look at all the little reflections and the detail in the headlights!

I hope that these works of art have inspired you, and, of course, that you have simply enjoyed looking at them. Again, suggestions as always are much appreciated - although I'd really rather they were sent in notes just in case I miss 'em in comments in this news article. Besides, if you note me them, it keeps them nice and secret for the next volume!