Marco Mazzoni: Pencil Magic

by Lavina - 10:44

I recently bought Vol. 20 of Hi-Fructose, a contemporary art magazine, because of the striking artwork featured on this issue's cover:

Flipping through the pages, I discovered that this artwork, what I thought to be an oil or acrylic painting, is actually the result of color pencils! :O

Marco Mazzoni is an artist set on proving the excellence of the one medium that is considered "childish", and the works he produces are nothing short of awesome.

This reminds me of Pan's Labyrinth for some reason.

Mazzoni... drew on the idea of the wisdom of ancient women who were able to heal through the use of natural medicine and commune with nature through the use of hallucinogenic plants... These witchly plants are realistically rendered in deep jewel tones and act as a jolting foil for the vagueness and openness of the faces they surround. In addition, winged creatures are often woven into each narrative, with Mazzoni's astonishingly rich iridescence of hummingbird wings or the velvety stained glass of butterfly wings. {Kirsten Anderson}

Original, beautiful artworks like these make me wish I had that oomph as well; I have no idea what my style is :| I hope I find it! In the meantime, here are more of Mr. Mazzoni's amazing drawings: