Pencil Artist of the Week: Raigo Kannike

This week’s featured pencil artist is Raigo Kannike, a pencil artist living in “middle of nowhere, next to nothing” Estonia. Raigo’s DeviantArt gallery is filled with charcoal drawings, works in progress and notebook doodles, but it was his portrait gallery that caught our attention.

Raigo cites Armin Mersmann (a fellow Pencils.com Pencil Artist of the Week) as his favorite visual artist, and Armin’s influence can be seen in each of Raigo’s portraits. His attention to detail is astounding, and his ability to translate the intricacies of the human face into a black and white graphite drawing is rivaled by few. His portrait of Steve Buscemi, in particular, is breathtakingly realistic.

Raigo creates his drawings using a selection of Faber-Castell and Derwent pencils, erasers and tools. An artist without any formal training, Raigo developed his skills through repetition and practice. “For me, there is no mystery about drawing,” Raigo explained. “The more you practice, the better you get.”

Drawings by Pencil Artist Raigo Kannike

“I don’t have any special kind of process for drawing. I draw because I can express myself that way.” And, when it boils down to it, that’s all that matters.

If you want to see more of Raigo’s work, you can check out his DeviantArt profile. You can also follow Raigo on Blogspot and Facebook.

What do you think Pencileers? Do you know someone who should be featured as our pencil artist of the week? Let us know in the comments, or submit an artist using the button below!