Images You Won't Believe Are HandPainted

The images you are about to see may shock or confound you. When portraiture looks this realistic, it can be hard to accept that what you see is just paint on a canvas, or ink scratches on a page. 

Discover nine of the finest artists from around the world who are recreating humans in their art -- with strikingly lifelike results. 

Gottfried Helnwein 

Gottfried Helnwein frequently depicts children in his gigantic, mesmerizing portraits, along with "low culture" icons including Donald Duck, with the loss of childhood innocence as a reoccurring theme.

Gottfried Helnwein 

The Austrian artist doesn't shy away from controversial themes, but has been praised from his realistic depictions. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting, Forbesmagazine published an article titled "Why Every American Ought To See The Paintings Of Gottfried Helnwein."

Robin Eley 

Australia Robin Eley takes weeks to produce these awe-inspiring portraits, reproducing every crease in the plastic wrapping in intricate detail. 

Robin Eley 

The 36-year-old London-born artist renders these materials using just oil paint and miniature brushes. One work -- featuring a giant ball of aluminum foil -- took over 500 hours to produce.

Lee Price 

Lee Price paints women and food. The sumptuously detailed images are often taken from a bird's-eye view, giving a glimpse into the relationship between women and the food they eat.

Lee Price 

Many of Price's works -- such as this self-portrait -- take place in private places, and display the comfort that can come with indulging in food, but also the forbidden or compulsive side of eating.

Alyssa Monks 

Brooklyn-based Alyssa Monks images blurs the line between hyper-real and painterly. From across a room, her paintings first strike you as incredibly true to life... 

Alyssa Monks 

...but, as you approach, they reveal the thick paint and clear brush strokes that make up the image. The 36-year-old says she doesn't merely aim to copy photography but go "beyond what even a photograph can portray."

Samuel Silva 

Portuguese Samuel Silva, 31, calls art a hobby -- in the daytime he's a practicing lawyer. Try playing spot-the-difference with his portraits and see if you can tell the photograph from the hand-drawn art.

DiegoKoi 

25-year-old Italian artist Diego Fazio creates incredible portraits that look almost wet to the touch. 

Jamie Salmon 

British-born Jamie Salmon takes it to the next level. His work plays with scale -- crafting eerily real, too-large 3D self-portraits and figures to create a sense of "heightened reality." 

Jamie Salmon 

The Vancouver-based artist began his career as a commercial artist, making hyper-real bodies for the movie effects industry, and using silicone rubber, resin, fabric and hair.