Chan Hwee Chong Reproduces Masterpieces Using One Single Spiralling Line

Faber-Castell has done something extraordinary to promote its Pitt Artist Pens with the help of the creative artist Chan Hwee Chong

The German writing instrument maker had the artist recreate three famous paintings – Van Gogh’s self-portrait, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring – using the popular drawing pens.

In and of itself, that’s nothing unusual.

Except for that artist, Chan Hwee Chong did it by using one single line spiraling out from the center of each piece.

It took him several months to complete the three drawings because he had to start over each time he made a mistake in the delicate process, which was part of a campaign for Faber-Castell designed by German ad agency Kolle Robbe.

The idea was to demonstrate the control and precision of the Pitt pens, he told the Daily Mail.

He likened putting together the spectacular drawings with a spider spinning a web.

Mr Hwee Chong added: ‘It wasn’t as easy as we thought. We went through many rounds of trial and error, painstaking drawing the masterpieces in one controlled line, by hand.

‘As you can imagine, every mistake meant we need to start all over again. This project not only involved skill but lots of resilience and patience, much like a spider spinning its web.’

Chan Hwee Chong Girl with a Pearl Earring Spiral Line Drawing

Chan Hwee Chong Girl with a Pearl Earring

Chan Hwee Chong Mona Lisa Spiral Line Drawing

Chan Hwee Chong Mona Lisa

Chan Hwee Chong Vincent Van Gogh Spiral Line Drawing

Chan Hwee Chong Vincent Van Gogh

Faber-Castell’s artist pens are highly regarded because of the quality of the deep black India ink they use. Heather, over at A Penchant for Paper, had good things to say after she tried out the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen last fall.

Of course, this isn’t the first time a pen maker has used one of the masters to demonstrate the ability of one of its pens.

Last year, an artist used a single Bic Cristal to do a pen-and-ink recreation of Girl with the Pearl Earring.

It took the artist 90 hours. The result was impressive, but our money is still on the single-line drawings above. What do you think?

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Tony Bridges

As a seasoned journalist and freelance writer, I've spent over three decades telling stories and exploring the world through the written word. With a passion for writing instruments, I found my niche at The Pen Vibe, a blog that shares our collective fascination with pens, pencils, and other tools that have shaped the art of writing.

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