I'm sorry but this is unbelievable:) I'll give credit to the artist upon more convincing proof! The photogenic look of the tiger and lion really helps the artist's case though:)
- Roney Smith
I'm with Roney... I find this hard to believe... or maybe I'm just jealous that I can't even get stick people right!
- Jasmin Smith
I'm really happy everyone liked these. They're my most liked entry to date, Thanks! There also seems to be some question about whether these are actually Pencil Drawings.I can assure you that they are.When I get home, I should have the links. I have more drawings, too.
- Michael Fidler
from fftogo
Thanks Enrique, I'll post some more soon. They are a little more obvious than these ones. As Luke points out; without being able to look closely it's impossible to tell. He's right; but up close it's more obvious. I'll upload the originals to Picasa later, and then you'll be able to zoom in with any photo viewer and see for yourselves. I can't believe how many people liked these. A few people have reposted them already. Thanks!
- Michael Fidler
Absolutely awesome, Michael. You are extremely talented. Everyone should repost these pix and help to make you famous. You should be doing this full time - you obviously have some passion for this. Bravo.
- Chris Loft
These are really beautiful, Michael. Do you sell them?
- Shannon Jiménez
Chris, I would love to say they're mine, but it's not true. I've had them for a while, but I'll find the artists names. It will just require a little backtracking. Besides, they deserve the credit; all I did was find them:-)
- Michael Fidler
Cut the bullshit! :) Photos are very good.
- Burçak Çubukçu
I draw alot in pencil, but they are amazing, the best for me is the girl, that is the most photo-like one. :o)
- Rob Sellen :o)
I agree Rob, the girl is amazing. My favorite by far! Wait until you see it close up! It's really had to tell, even up close!
- Michael Fidler
Burçak Çubukçu If these were photographs, they would be very good. As Pencil Drawings,(which they are), they're amazing.
- Michael Fidler
@Burçak Çubukçu I can't tell if your serious now or just kidding around. I hope your just having fun! If you are serious, I've never given you a reason to question my integrity, nor do I ever intend to. However, the second set is up now, so judge them for yourself, but don't judge me! http://ff.im/1BJh5 BTW, I messed up and reposted the shot of the women again. Oh well. Hope you like them:-)
- Michael Fidler
@Michael: try deviantART, not Picasa, to submit your artworks
- LouCypher
LouCypher, I know it well, but I don't see why I would want to do that. I hope everyone knows by now that they're not mine? I'm sorry, but I can't say it any clearer than that.
- Michael Fidler
nah, i don't believe it is done in pencil. i am sure it is photoshopped :)
- hasin hayder
I'm finding this both interesting and humorous at the same time. There's a separate message board where this post is being discussed and it has another forty comments on it already. I think its great how this has created some lively discussion, considering that when I posted this I was doubtful if anyone would even like it. When I went to sleep last night there was only had 3 or 4 likes...
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- Michael Fidler
Very interesting. I would like to see them up close and in person...just to make sure. Bill said it's real and possible. Your 2nd set of picts look like pencil. Nice work in finding these!
- LaFern Cusack
Kol, I can't thank you enough! Kol found another post which helps to prove that these are done in pencil. I had my doubts about a few of them because I collected them from several different sites over time, but the site Kol found has done a great job pulling together an impressive collection of these drawings and more. Take a look - http://www.flickzzz.com/2009...
- Michael Fidler
Actually there are more than what this site shows. There's an entire set with the cats(little cats), which I have, and there's a new portrait set.
- Michael Fidler
Found your post here, Michael. :-) I tried my best to find the artists.
- Kol Tregaskes
Amazing and very very very good.... Very impressive ...
- Linda Zeek-Bobinski
Yeah we know, thanks though, James. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Excellent pictures - how long did it take you to scan the photographs into Photoshop and then edit them? The only pencil that has come into contact with these "drawings" is the Photoshop pencil. A tip - stop trying to fool people into thinking you are a "real" artist, because all you are doing is cheapening proper artist's works whom have spent hours creating real pictures as opposed to a few minutes on a graphics editing package.
- The Wimp
A bell does ring here. And I am remembering why I was so attracted to the tiger...and the lion for that matter. These are exact replicas of prints I had in our bedroom when I lived in Dallas. I had bought the prints (in color) at a department store,
- Melanie Reed
Actually, I have learned quite a bit about these drawing since I made this post. Not only have I discovered all of the artists, but I've learned more about how they are created. They are always copied from a photograph or painting, but usually a photograph. It is extremely time consuming and detail orientated work. There are many other artists besides the ones featured here who practice...
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- Michael Fidler
Most of them have portfolio's on deviantart.com and their work is truly amazing even if they are copies of other artists work. I suppose with this level of detail, they have to start with something. Nevertheless, I'm still in awe of their talent. Melanie, the animal prints you refer to are from a very well renowned photographer. The originals are B&W I'll look it up later but I do have...
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- Michael Fidler
Has anyone ever corrected the record and pointed out, with the exception of the Charlize Theron drawing, that these are indeed photos by Alexander Von Reiswitz?
- erik weisz
Erik, thank you for bringing this up again, but I think I already mentioned something about this in my prior comment. However, since it appears that you only signed up to friendfeed to leave a single comment, (ok, why?) I will try to summarize what I wrote previously. In brief, I learned after doing a little research that all photo-realistic drawings like the ones that I shared here,...
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- Michael Fidler
I can assure you that what are claimed to be drawings of animals, in your post here, are photos. I used a website to that allows you to do an comparison of the Von Reiswitz photos and the images you have posted here. There are no differences. Every hair matches up. As a pencil artist myself I can tell you that it's pretty much impossible to get that kind of accuracy and have it look...
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- erik weisz
but... it has to be real, i saw it on the internet
- Iphigenie
Eric, it doesn't matter to me if you just joined, and I apologize if I made you think otherwise. If you have any questions regarding friendfeed, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them. At this point, I would be happy if we could find someone who is an image analysis expert, and finally point this thing to rest. Every time that I look into this, all I find is a...
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- Michael Fidler
the site spammed above must all be done in pencil too, right, thats why you posted it?
- Iphigenie
I'm amazed that people are still posting these photographs of animals and calling them pencil drawings. This is at least the third case I can remember (and there are probably more) of this happening. The myth about them being drawings was debunked long ago. It's also funny that whenever they get posted the person posting them doesn't make it clear that they aren't the artist, exactly as you have done.
- canadianmaple09
@canadianmaple09 I posted these back in March, 2009 when I was beginning to use FF regularly. I ran them through TinEye hoping to find their source, but it returned no results. When I ran through again yesterday, TinEye returned over four pages of results. If I had it to do over again, would I? Yes
- Michael Fidler
The people you refer do don't join "just to slam" someone, they are concerned members of the online art community that want to see real art appreciated and fake art or photos being passed off as drawings revealed for what they really are. Artists such as Brian Duey, Armin Mersmann, Paul Lung, Zindy Nielsen,and many others do not receive the appreciation they deserve because of scams like this.
- canadianmaple09
canadianmaple09, the worthiness of your motives notwithstanding (and they are worthy, definitely) you could definitely have approached Michael completely differently by say, giving him the benefit of the doubt rather than attacking in a highly accusatory tone.
- Chieze Okoye
When you've seen these same pictures posted multiple times by people that just find them on the internet and claim they are pencil drawings, when it has already been established on multiple occasions that they are not, the "benefit of the doubt" approach seems a little too generous. People post these images and claim they're drawings to get views for their own site or blog or page or whatever it is they post it on. It's wrong and it needs to be stopped.
- canadianmaple09
I can understand that, but you should also keep in mind that everyone is not as well-versed in the issue as you are. All I'm saying is that you would probably be more effective in this case if you weren't setting this up as a us-vs.-them, "must destroy with the validity my argument!" attitude when talking to a guy who's been actively having a discussion on the issue in what seems to me (having been around when he first posted the images and the follow up thread and what not) to be good faith.
- Chieze Okoye
Look at his first comment here. People clearly thought he drew them. He doesn't set the record straight. He also claims that they "are actually pencil drawings" and that "I have more drawings too." Later he claims that you need to look at them closer to see they are drawings and that he will "post the originals". Once again, this makes it sound like they are his. This follows the same...
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- canadianmaple09
Greg and Chieze, thanks for your support. I really appreciate it. @canadianmaoles09, for what it’s worth, I share your concerns about giving proper attribution when sharing also. However, I admit that I'm more conscious of it now than I was at the time of this post. Nevertheless, I have never taken credit for anybody's work here other than my own!
- Michael Fidler
BTW, I didn't realize it before, but I just noticed that you're new here too. I hope you like it so far and spend more time here. IMO, friendfeed is still the best thing around!
- Michael Fidler
I would probably qualify as an image analysis expert, but there's no way to prove that online. One thing we can do is look at color. Even though the images are black and white,they're actually RGB images, meaning they contain cyan magenta and yellow. If you look at the image of the rhino you have posted then look at the photo of the rhino at the photographer's site you can see they both...
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- erik weisz
"Men whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers run faster, due to testosterone levels, according to a study from Southampton University."
- Kol Tregaskes
from Bookmarklet
Doesn't work for me, my index finger is longer and I was one of the fastest in my school when I was young. Next useful scientific test please... ;-)
- Kol Tregaskes
and big hands mean....... big gloves! ;)
- Neil Bernhart
i have a much longer ring finger. ET like, even
- Cee Bee
This story keeps coming around. Next week, "Men whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers grow thicker beards"... followed by, "Men who grow thicker beards run faster". :o)
- Ken Morley
Hmm. I'm looking at my fingers, and my ring finger is longer than my index finger, and I run like a drunken sloth with fallen arches who plays D&D.
- Arizona Highways
"A drunken sloth with fallen arches who plays D&D?" This isn't really Arizona Highways magazine!
- Ciaoenrico
@Damat & Nik - & Dave: LMAO!! Of course you're free to disagree - I find "whale-tails" tasteless, even on a "hottie" - sexy (imho) is something that is sparked by what is left to the imagination, not what's put out on parade. As to the nationality factor, Damat, there are some walking whales here in the U.S. without a doubt - but there are also some exquisitely beautiful women as well - not just Humpty Dumpty. (Most of us are just average, though...LOL)
- Prosey BUTTONS!
(gotta say it for the record, though: I dislike McDs or any fast food - and I definitely prefer European cuisine...*nod*)
- Prosey BUTTONS!
I think you will find that the UK is catching up fast...to fast, present company excepted of course, lol
- Bill Masson
*chuckling* Present company likewise excepted. ;) (I can get away with a few pounds here, though, with the excuse of just having had a baby...but never in my life have I looked like the woman on the right - not even close)
- Prosey BUTTONS!
Fresh fruits and vegetables will never be as convenient or cost-effective. That said, I don't place a dollar (or time) value on my or my kids' health. I will grant that I will never have my 16-yr old body back (nor would I trade back the price I paid for the loss of that body)...but *healthy* is attractive, even on a size 16. :)
- Prosey BUTTONS!
Thank you, everyone! :) I'm just trying to figure out what to do next. The next several months are going to be really interesting.
- Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)
Congratulations and best wishes! (Someone needs to post a chart here on FF identifying all couples, 'cuz I'm clueless! I worry about unwittingly saying the wrong thing to someone's significant other!)
- Mark J
How much to get Derrick that wig and do the poses?
- SteVe C
I seem to recall seeing this guy, or some who look similar to him, dressed up as Rock Lee in green body spandex suit with leg warmers, holding pose on one leg. :)
- Bluesun 2600
Exxxcellent, sir. We've been asking for this for awhile now. With this taken care of, how close are we to being able to collapse comments that we've expanded?
- Akiva
Let's call that a $50 million feature ;-)
- Laurent
+1 Akiva, was thinking the same thing - Also, thank you much! Been hoping for this. :-)
- Matthew Horton
Good to see development on FF hasn't stopped, Paul. I thought the FF API v2 post was the last FF update we'd ever see. This warms my heart :)
- LANjackal
it's not too late, personally alot my post-FB fears will be allayed if dev continues on FF.
- Joe The Sausage
Very cool! Keep bringing the cool features!
- Dakota O'Neill
can you please add one at the bottom of the page, too? i keep having to hit About then the friendfeed logo, and finally back at the beginning/top :)
- mike
Let me guess, the 500+ message thread about FB buying FF brought this on. Like!
- Evan Parker
Matthew, Laurent, Akiva Roflol. This is like the bouquet you get when you're the girl and he messed up. Louis, you were right. ;)
- Melanie Reed
It does not appear until certain number of comments are made. This is really nice because if it appeared twice in proximity it would not look nice.
- Ashish
Now, can you add a collapse comments feature? I hate having to scroll up or down for what seems like miles and miles of comments just to get to another post.
- April Buchheit
We really wanted this when we were conference blogging--will be great for next time.
- Ruchira S. Datta
+1000 April - yes, i've wanted that for a while, too ... please :)
- Susan Beebe
Nice start. That means I can almost uninstall the Greasemonkey script that had been doing this for me for the past month or so. Now could we also get a link to collapse the comments again. Pretty please? Oh, and why no "Like" link at the bottom as well?
- Alex Schleber
ooh yes, a link at the bottom to re-collapse comments would be great. or maybe even every 30 comments or so there could be a re-collapse link. sometimes i expand and regret it in short order.
- Felicia Yue
Happy to see this :-) and happy for Myrna too
- Majento
now that I Like'd this post to show it to my friends, I keep receiving comments to it in my IM, most of them rather predictable. Is there a plan to add a @mute command that would stop the streaming of comments to a certain post to IM?
- 9000
from IM
John: LOL def ;) - these three letter abbreviations are becoming way too much effort..haha - it will be only a matter of time before we communicate completely in grunts :)
- Mike Bracco
Definitely, what did you end up sticking with?
- Angelo Rodrigues
Do you really think so? The so called "Themes" are just changes of color and background. Nothing awesome about this! There is much more they could do to match with "State of the Art" Designs.
- Hans Kainz
Also, the Friendfeed real-time updating is much more awesome when your own stuff is real-time updating with awesomeness (as opposed to watching other people's getting all the awesomeness in real time :).
"We all know that Twitter has jumped the shark. The recent additions of the suggested users list, the influx of celebrity and brand accounts (and all the silent, creepy stalker accounts that follow them), and the incredible gaming of the friend/follower system demonstrates that quite clearly. But that's not why I say it's time to take our tweets and go elsewhere."
- Chris Charabaruk
Hats off to Jesse Stay, whose recent blog post on Twitter gave me the idea to suggest it's time for us to move on to greener pastures.
- Chris Charabaruk
I think with the huge recent popularity of Twitter that more people will understand what social networks are and perhaps understand why FriendFeed is so awesome. But right now, Twitter wins on the mobile interaction game. Tweetie (and other apps as well) on the iPhone is much better than Buddyfeed or Motherfeed.
- Aaron Hood
Aaron: It may be winning in mobile, but that's because there really isn't any competition to it there right now. If there were competition in the mobile feed, perhaps Twitter would do something to un-fuck SMS for Canadians like me.
- Chris Charabaruk
from IM
Not only is this line of thinking narrow minded, but it's very short sighted. I think as a technologist, we should all want services to prosper and be something even our moms would use. Otherwise, what's the point right?
- drew olanoff
Drew: That's why I'm suggesting a move to another service, not the complete abandonment of microblogging itself. Services will prosper if they take care of their users. If they don't, they won't keep users, and they sure as hell won't prosper.
- Chris Charabaruk
Honestly, right now Twitter is just more fun. Follow five of your favorite comedians and it is a good read. It also seemed to be that FF died down quite a bit in the time that Twitter really exploded.
- Keenan
Alasdair: LOLWUT? FriendFeed is no multi-tool. It has one well-defined purpose (to unite a person's feeds all in one place) and it does a damn fine job of it. Besides, Twitter is the issue here. And it doesn't do its job very well.
- Chris Charabaruk
Chris: The "gaming" you speak of is so ridiculously small, percentage wise. The value of the company, the medium, the people using it far far far outweigh the fictional "shark jumping" you describe.
- drew olanoff
@DBlack: Try refreshing shortly; Drupal 5 is resource-heavy and there's really only one way for my host to deal with that.
- Chris Charabaruk
I say abandon FriendFeed. Good example. I clicked on the link above and it took me to an error page on your blog. This was actually the third click to get to the error page. FriendFeed doesn't actually send you to the link referenced by Twitter or any other spot, especially FriendFeed. It just propagates links to broken URLs. Twitter may be adding features that won't pan out, but when you click on a shortened URL, it does take you somewhere.
- Michael Sommermeyer
Michael: FriendFeed is supplying the correct link. My site is just deranged. Hopefully it'll improve when I can get rid of my Drupal 5 dependencies and upgrade to 6, but for the meantime just refresh. I get that problem a lot myself.
- Chris Charabaruk
Drew: Going at it by percentage is bullshit. There's enough gaming to be visible for a lot of users. When you're seeing gamers follow and de-follow you every day, you get pissed. It detracts from the quality of the service.
- Chris Charabaruk
Chris: And FriendFeed is bulletproof to any type of "gaming"? How about we do a poll of people who are not in the 2%, ie: people who don't work in this space for a living...and see how they feel about it?
- drew olanoff
Drew: What purpose would there be to gaming FriendFeed? These people aren't gaming the system because there aren't any controls against it. They're gaming it because they see some twisted value in it for themselves.
- Chris Charabaruk
Chris: How are people gaming Twitter? My mom uses it to keep track of what I'm up to. I use it to keep track of what friends are doing and ROFL at what Shaq says once in a while. I follow who I want to follow, and if someone wants to follow what I have to say, rad. If not, I don't worry. I don't get your point here.
- drew olanoff
Drew: Just as an example, ever seen someone with interesting looking tweets, who you then followed just to get a bunch of spammy DMs from them?
- Chris Charabaruk
Chris: Yes. I unfollow them. And it's happened like 3 times.
- drew olanoff
Chris: Have you ever been out on a date and they seemed cool so you give them your #? And then they say something that bothers you and you don't want to talk to them anymore? And when you tell them that they still contact you? Are you going to remain single for life?
- drew olanoff
I'm reading Chris Charabaruk's post on friendfeed, need I say more? :-)
- tom
Drew: I unfollow the gamers too when I find them. But it's not just the gamers. It's the fact that Twitter can't keep their service running properly, they don't communicate well with their users (the company blog is every bit as helpful as DreamHost's service blog, i.e. barely useful), and the fact that the top folk there just seem to radiate unhelpfulness now.
- Chris Charabaruk
On other services, like here and on Blellow, I know that if I have a complaint about something, I can quickly make sure it gets seen by someone working at that service, and even get a response. Here users get value as much as they provide it, from the people in charge.
- Chris Charabaruk
With all the crap and poor service on Twitter, it's only a matter of time before it's simply an outflow of my activities elsewhere. (I'm just waiting for an app ecosystem for Blellow, and then *bam* I'll move.)
- Chris Charabaruk
@Chris Charabaruk: If you want free Twitter SMS updates I'd suggest signing up to http://twe2.com :¬)
- CannonGod
CannonGod: I don't care about getting SMS messages from Twitter (I'd switch to Bell if it were that important to me). I'd rather that incoming messages worked as advertised, though, with them appearing once and only once in my tweet stream. Not multiple times over the course of weeks.
- Chris Charabaruk
UPDATE: Twitter, after a couple of months of complaining by users, is finally looking at the SMS reposting issue that Canadians (such as myself) are suffering. MONTHS. TO SIMPLY RESPOND. If that doesn't scream shitty service, nothing will.
- Chris Charabaruk
Why is everyone so concerned with Twitter? Who cares. It's supplementary to the services we use and clearly not going anywhere for a while. I don't care if celebs are there or not. As a technology enthusiast, I am HAPPY people are understanding Social Media more.
- Mona Nomura
Mona: It's because Twitter is one of the best known social media services and the (currently) primary one for all us social media wonks. So of course, every little thing with it gets the attention of an electron microscope, and every time something about it is disliked, we all enjoy screaming about it.
- Chris Charabaruk
from IM
Chris: Clearly this is sparked from something personal in nature, and this isn't a discussion about usefulness or technology at all. I have found no problems with getting answers from the folks at Twitter, and their Status blog at http://status.twitter.com is always updated. I think people who understand what goes into a service that has to scale, realize that there will be hiccups.
- drew olanoff
Drew: I'll not deny that I have issues with Twitter. But I started off enjoying it and making great use and great connections. As time's gone on, though, the great things about it started disappearing, to be replaced with crap. I came in back when it was going through its early growing pains. It was understandable then. But since those days, the use of the service has expanded while the management acumen of its leaders hasn't. And that's caused a drop in the quality of service for me.
- Chris Charabaruk
Any one of Twitter's problems, on its own, isn't that big a deal. A mosquito or two. But brought together, all at once and at one time, and the problem becomes more than the sum of its parts. And it's gotten to the point where I just can't stand it any longer. And I doubt that I'm the only one who feels this way.
- Chris Charabaruk
its easy to say you will abandon but if you have friends there you might not, for example I abandoned facebook but all my tweets get posted there as status and get messages in sms. I joined friendfeed cuz scoble's tweets kept taking me here I dont use much find it hrd to follow lol but it actually works on cell, twitter mobile is a little better.
- David Gross
David: few of my friends actually are on Twitter, and several of them long ago moved on to greener pastures and only update Twitter via other services like Ping.fm. Those who I want to keep track of, and aren't yet on FriendFeed, I can still create imaginary users for, and reply to them via FriendFeed sending those replies to Twitter. I'm abandoning the service itself, not the users. The users I can find again elsewhere, or cheat by pulling in here.
- Chris Charabaruk
That look is the very definition of WTF.
- deusdiabolus
Definitely the pic of "WTF" in dictionary
- Olcayto Cengiz
hahahah I think that's how I looked a few minutes ago.
- Carmen wBabby
This is my new magic Rah ball when I ask the Rah this - "does this make my butt look big" and then I see his picture and I know the answer.
- Janet-The Bottley Crue
this is gonna be my link for when ppl tell me something that makes me say "wtf?!" thanks rasheen!
- acedanger
Katie, you would think so but I'm bordering on some burnout and frustration that is clouding judgement and is starting to make me think irrationally.
- Mark Krynsky
Well, I hope for your health and sanity you get a break soon. All work and no play makes Mark a sad boy :o(
- Just Katie
Thanks Katie, some light at the end of the tunnel but not until late next week. I hope the car doesn't run out of gas before then.
- Mark Krynsky
Mark, you have just described the last 2.5 months for me. I SO empathize with you. And I HATE never being able to get away from work, even in my sleep!!
- Lindsay
Thats crazy.. almost as bad as dreaming you woke up and got ready for work on time.. only to wake up and realize you're late.
- Angelo Rodrigues
Lindsay it is strange. On the one hand you feel fortunate to have a job with so many out there without one and struggling. On the other hand you feel so thrashed from the treadmill you're on you almost wish there was a way off it.
- Mark Krynsky
I love it when this happens. I usually end up working out a solution in the dream to something I was struggling with while working. There's also a weird state of non-stressful-stress in those kinds of dreams. Much better than the dreams that are flashbacks to having to take a test or get to a class on time in high school.
- Andy Bakun
Andy...you my friend are a sick puppy :)
- Mark Krynsky
@Mark - Yeah, I know what you mean... The state of the economy makes me a lot more likely to put up with being overworked than otherwise. @Andy - It's very rare (though it does happen sometimes) that I actually figure out something new in those dreams. Most of the time it's rehashing the same problem over and over and over and never quite getting the solution. If it were always productive I wouldn't mind so much!!
- Lindsay