French graphic designer and artist Xavier Casalta uses a stippling technique with black ink and
thousands of tiny dots requiring as the top illustration says great “patience and discipline”. He uses a 0.10mm pen to create incredible hand lettering and illustrations with most pieces needing hundreds of hours to produce. On Kuuva blog he says this about his process:

“I started (hand-lettering) with solid black, but I’ve always been attracted to realistic drawings. I tried different techniques and the stippling one appeared to be my favourite. Not the best one for productivity but the rendering is really interesting.”

“I guess the process is pretty basic. I start with a simple sketch, with not a lot of details. Once it’s done, I start inking with a first layer to figure out how to place my shadows and volumes. I try to work on small zones to keep the illustration as detailed as possible. Once it’s finished, I clear the entire piece with an eraser.”

You can follow the artist on his website, Facebook, Behance and Instagram.

Images: Courtesy of Xavier Casalta.