Fake it til you Make it:

 There are some very clever ways disreputable artists or sellers will attempt to fool you and shortcut the process in the search for the almighty dollar. In other words, they will FAKE an original and attempt to sell it to you.  In this first guide, I'll attempt to show you one way to spot a fake pencil drawing.

Good Photos Gone Bad:

The first and most obvious way to fake original art is to alter a photograph then try to pass it off as an orginal painting or drawing. We aren't talking about Altered Art here.

There is a fine and lucrative market for altered photographs, art prints, collaged art, etc.  The reputable sellers and artists will tell you that up front. The scam-artist won't.

How to Tell:

Below are  two close-up examples of a photograph of a dog; one at normal enlargement, the second at 200% enlargement.

                                                                                                  

The first image is fairly straightforward. However, we've zoomed way in on the eye in the second image, and here is what gives a scam-artist away:
Those miniscule squares are what's known as Pixelation, or the breaking up of the image into miniscule squares,or pixels.  Another word is "artifacts" and these artifacts may not be worth gold, but they can keep you from spending a lot of gold.

This is what lends a printed, grayscale (or black and white) image that speckled, or darkish, murky quality.  Another word for it is "noise."

You can see that even the lightest areas of the image are speckled, as the computer interprets every single nuance of grey in the image. An artist, as a rule, does not draw every pixel. If you have a pencil sketch that is speckled this way, you can be sure it was drawn OVER an image.

The computer, digital printer or digital camera attempts to interpret the data (the image) and as none of the equipment are artists, the data gets saved into squares, each a different shade of grey in this case.  It is the viewers eye that blends the squares into soft tones, and this happens the further you stand back from the print.

Try this for yourself on the second image above.  Even a good quality inkjet printer will still show pixelation at most zoom levels, or at the very least, levels of colored noise that no artist could or ever would reproduce. It's debris, in other words; little artifacts that arise when a digital camera or a scanner or a printer attempt to interpret an image.

The Real Nitty-Gritty:

                                                

The four images above show 1.)  a printed copy    2.) pencil drawing     3.) Extreme closeup of print     4.) extreme closeup of drawing.

You can pick out the original drawings at once. They have crisp areas of white that have no shading at all in them, letting the white of the paper become the lightest value.  There is no discernable pixelation even though all these images were scanned and then converted to jpegs.

You will also note, that the drawing differs from the print, in  line quality.

A drawn line will meander, going light and dark, thick and thin.  The hand directs it. Not a computer.   A drawing of a photograph may be what is called photorealism, in that the artist has painstakingly copied it the best she or he can, but you will still see the artist's mind and hand at work, as original as a fingerprint.

A good artist will interpret the photograph, drawing out qualities as he or she sees fit, and it is this skill that makes all the difference in the world.  A busy background may be exiled into non-existence.  An eye given more or less sparkle.  Fur or hair drawn in minute detail or merely suggested by a few well-placed contour lines.

A photograph is a springboard more often, to something altogether different, another entity with a soul that may not be evident in the original photograph.  Someone once described it as "making it more real than reality itself."

Don't be Afraid to Ask

A reputable artist will be glad to show you the reference photograph.

For me, there just isn't any reason not to, and if a Seller balks or refuses, try to find out the reason and then decide for yourself if it's worth it.  Sadly, a Seller's ranking isn't much good if all his Buyers have no idea how to spot a fake drawing.

Personally,  I make scans as I work, so that I have a photo record of the progression of the piece in case someone asks for proof. The drawing changes as I work, and sometimes a line or an area may disappear completely. Rare is the artist who can go from A to Z without making some alterations.

 Heck, even DaVinci had do overs!

In that some work may sell for hundreds of dollars, I don't mind putting a collector's mind at ease at all. Given the unfortunate fact that there are scammers out there, I'm not offended by a request from a reputable buyer.  It helps educate buyers and that helps every artist trying their hardest to make a living.

Please look for more guides as I have the time.  Thank you for dropping by, and if you found this review helpful at all, won't you please take the time to click a button?  Thanks!

Adriela Sakamoto