An art school drawing technique more than a millenium old.
Ever since the first photograph nearly two centuries ago, realist artists have been trying to prove they can create just as good 3-d illusion on paper and some have undeniably succeeded. Even before photographs, for several millennia art students were challenged by instructors to reproduce the works of previous art masters.
One of the best ways for any artist to understand how the illusion of light/color interplay is created - is to study the convenient, stable and timeless reality of the photograph. It was a standard teaching technique in the 60s when I was taking college drawing and painting courses. When my daughter took similar courses in the 80s her art professor had the students tear a favorite magazine photo in half, glue it to a drawing (and later a canvas for painting) medium and them reproduce the half torn off - and variations of the same theme using more or less photograph completions. Her first competition drawing while still taking this first drawing course took 3rd place in a competition with several thousand "amateur and professional" artist. It's a very effective technique and clearly one that Silva has mastered completely. Interesting article - even if not "news."
