B&W photorealist/hyperrealist artists

I have recently decided to stick to black and white for a while and try to master tonal imagery. There are quite a few hyperrealist artists that have ventured this very same way that are a great influence to me. Collectively they use a wide variety of media to portray their work from graphite to charcoal and acrylics to oils and all to great effect.

Black and white is an interesting view of the world that we don't usually see. Until the invention of the camera, the closest anyone would come to see the world in black and white would be in very low light and moonlight. This did not stop artists creating monochromatic works. Look at Da Vinci's drawings for example.

Black and white imagery emphasises the texture, contrast, light and shadow within a piece. Allowing the form of the object to appear three-dimensional when of course it is flat. Tonal value and tonal relationships within an artwork are essential elements that contribute towards the illusion of reality, depth and form. Without them, a piece would seem unrealistic, flat and dull. Below is a short list of artists that work mainly (although not exclusively) in black and white or monochrome that are a great influence to me. They all already appear in my artist bloglist, but with different images. As always, please click their name to see more of their work and the image to enlarge it. Feel free to leave comments. - Tom

Chiara Albertoni
An Italian artist, specialising in organic forms with a very shallow depth of field.


Jason Brooks
A hyperrealist figurative artist with works in the National Portrait Gallery.


Paul Cadden
Paul's works are mainly urban-based, graphite drawings.


Juan Francisco Casas Ruiz
A Spanish figurative artist who's monochromatic drawings are done using coloured biro.


Melissa Cooke
Melissa'a main body of works are very large scale graphite self-portraits in different guises.


Dirk Dzimirsky
Dirk uses charcoal on large canvases amongst other media.


Davide La Rocca
David's oil paintings are almost pointillist in the way they are presented in order to affect a pseudo film grain which proves that photorealism does not need to appear all sharp and neat without brush marks.


Armin Mersmann
Armin's graphite drawings are large scale and extremely intricately and detailed.


Nicholas Middleton
Nicholas' oil paintings invite the viewer in to examine them.


Eloy Morales
Although Eloy mainly works with colour, his black and white imagery is also inspirational.


Carlos Muro
Carlos is one of my favourite inspirational artists. His works are large-scale and brilliantly executed with a similar 'pointillist' look to Davide La Rocca's works.


Marcos Rey
Marcos' graphite portraits show the subject's character well.


The Ani Art Academies - Waichulis
Formerly The Waichulis Studio, the Ani Art Academy Waichulis produces a very high standard of work from its students.


Antonio Tordesillas
Antonio's work include oil paintings using an airbrush.


Bernardo Torrens
Bernardo specialises in black and white female nudes.


James White
James' works contain objects that are very familiar to us all from around the house and everyday life. "Snapshots" of part of our life as it is as opposed to deliberately set up still life arrangement of objects.