Ninja Pajamas, and other good things.

Do you remember the scene in Mary Poppins where Dick Van Dyke draws the sidewalk pictures and then they jump into them? And you wondered how such a very realistic looking world could be rendered by such inaccurate scribblings?

Anyway. Tangent. I'm tired. That said, there do exist some sidewalk chalk artists that create such realistic pictures, you will even have difficulty discerning who and what is real in the pictures.

Our journey begins with a post on LiveJournal which shows the work of Julian Beever. If you don't have time for or interest in this entire essay, this is a nice impressive quickie to get you started.

These are suitably impressive at first glance, but to really be amazed, try and discern which beverages are real, and which beverages are part of the drawing.

Julian Beever's homepage offers up several more beautiful pavement drawings. Even more interesting, Julian shows us what one full day's worth of work yeilds. This gives you even more respect for the detailed drawings he produces.

The artistry of another pavement artist has been considered so profound that it was considered an Urban Legend. However, if you want to really be blown away, check out the gallery of Kurt Wenner. One of the most astounding peices in this gallery is a 15'x75' drawing for the pope himself. (Scroll down on the page to find the ill-placed links to the other pages). Each work is thumbnailed. Click to enlarge and be awed.

Holy Fricking Crap! Factor: 7/5