I personally think there is a big misconception as to why people in general and myself specifically are attracted to doing extreme detail and complex texture. Anyone that's been around the art world for very long has heard the phrase 'draw what you see' over and over again. Here's the rub - you CAN'T draw detail and texture unless you first SEE the detail and texture. People that train themselves to render hyper-realism are as much about seeing things at a depth far beyond what artists typically see as about reproducing it on paper or canvas. Texture and detail is all about diving into the subject and rolling around in all it's glorious complexity. People that disdain such hedonistic revelry in the marvelous infinite regress of reality are lacking in vision. They CANNOT do detail because they cannot SEE at that level. They try, get part way to it, find that it is FREAKING HARD, and invent reasons to tell themselves that it really isn't worth doing and 'real art' is something else. Strange thing is, that while the finished product often happens to look like a photo, that is actually an artifact of the process. It is the IMMERSION in the subject that is fascinating. It is the PROCESS that is absorbing. It is the INTENSITY of focus and the SEEING of things beyond what an untrained person sees.
A well executed, highly detailed and fully textured graphite rendering transports a viewer. The first impression of the realism catches the eye, then layers of detail and texture pull them in. For a few minute they get caught up in the piece, finding more and more to look at. For a few minutes the rest of the world disappears and the viewer is fully engaged in LOOKING at what was created by an artist that was able to SEE at an uncommonly deep level. A graphite rendering is well and truly art because of what it allows a viewer to do - to leave THIS world and enter the artists, even if only for a few minutes.
I am co-founder along with
of a new club called Impact Zone 
This club is dedicated to our love of waves. Surfing, waves crashing, paintings, photos, anything wave like. Take a look and join!
I am also selling limited addition prints of these pieces:
These are not Deviant Art prints. They are done on 100% rag paper using archival ink. Proper care will let them last 100 years or more. They are signed and numbered editions of 100. $60.00 per print. Note me if you are interested.
Some reviews of drawing technique books
wavefreak.deviantart.com/journ…
Clubs I'm in:
Stampage:
