Looking at these exquisite portraits from Yasutomo Oka, you might think that the 34-year-old Aichi Prefecture resident is a talented photographer. The truth is, though, that none of the young women’s images seen here were captured with a camera.

In line with the ultra-realistic paintings of Yigal Ozeri, here is the work of the Japanese artist Yasutomo Oka, who unveils beautiful photorealistic portraits of Japanese women. Some captivating and poetic portraits, made from real models, where every detail is painted with incredible precision. With his paintings, Yasutomo Oka immerses the viewer into a soft and mysterious atmosphere, on the edge of a dream…

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Yasutomo Oka

You could easily mistake these for CGs. After all, rapidly advancing technology has become very convincing, like with virtual schoolgirl Saya. But that’s not the case either, and, if you find yourself guessing that they might be love dolls (or chicken wing-selling dolls, depending on their owner’s choice of application), that hunch would also be incorrect.

That’s because Oka is a painter, and these amazingly lifelike portraits are all actually oil paintings.

Each photorealistic painting is incredibly lifelike, capturing the beauty of Japanese women.

Yasutomo Oka

While Oka says there are real-life models for the women he paints, their actual appearance is merely the starting point from which he makes alterations to arrive at the image he wants to create.

Not surprisingly, creating such intricate artwork is a major time investment. The portrait of the woman in the cream-colored kimono that appears at the top of this article, for example, took about 20 days to complete, Oka estimates.

Along with his ability to blend smooth body counters with stiff hair and eyelash detail, part of what makes Oka’s artwork so realistic is his use of color, as even the eyes he paints are shown reflecting the in-painting light.

Yasutomo Oka

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Oka manages to perfectly paint every facial feature, a lock of hair, a patch of skin, and piece of fabric with expert brush strokes.

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Even his pencil sketches look like black and white photographs.

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