When you see the image above, you might think, "Man, that's a beautiful photo." Unfortunately, you would be dead wrong. Fortunately, you would be right in thinking it is beautiful. It is a beautiful drawing. That's right, I said drawing.

Samuel Silva (VianaArts on Deviant Art) is the mastermind behind this, and a few other incredible drawings made entirely out of ballpoint pens. Another amazing fact: Silva is a lawyer by day and artist by hobby. He started drawing, sculpting and painting at 2 years old and has only recently tried to master the ballpoint pen. I think he's succeeded.

Here's an insightful FAQ from his "Redhead Girl" drawing:

Q:How many colors do you have and what pens are these?
A: I have 8 colored Bic ballpoint pens, for this I used 6 of them plus black. They are just common everyday ballpoint pens.

Q: Where do you get them? I have never seen them.
A: Staples, Ebay, Amazon, and pretty much any good office supply store, just because you haven't noticed them before doesn't mean they don't exist.

Q: Do you use any other medium mixed with the ballpoint pens?<
A: No, I just use ballpoint pens for these drawings. Everything is 100% ballpoint pen.

Q: How do you mix the colors? How do you blend them?
A: I don't mix them nor blend them. Ballpoint pen ink dries instantly and can not be erased. I just cross hatch the different colors in layers to create the illusion of blending and the illusion of colors I don't actually have.

Q: Are you a professional Artist? 
A: No, I'm just a lawyer, art is just a hobby for me, although it takes from 5 to 50 hours to finish each drawing. I started drawing when I was 2.