Originals in this selection, Pastel, Photorealism, Material Charcoal.
Two materials, one pictorial space
Charcoal supplies the deepest shadows and pastel the soft transitions between them, and together they carry a photorealistic image remarkably far. Photorealistic pastel drawings with charcoal for sale are worth a closer look, because of how much patient handwork sits in a single sheet.
Charcoal sits loosely on the paper and can be pulled into the finest grays with a finger or a blending stump. Pastel adds color without burying the charcoal, since both are little more than pigment. The photographic effect comes from tonal values: skin, glass or metal look real when light and shadow run into each other without steps.
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Viewing near and far
From six feet the subject reads like a photograph, from eight inches you can see the stroke. Frame the sheet behind non-reflective glass with a gap to the paper, so loose pigment cannot cling to it. Ask in the listing about fixative and paper type, since charcoal and pastel stay sensitive to rubbing and direct sun.
Making of and signature
With photorealistic work it pays to ask how long someone sat over it. A sheet that grew across many sessions often shows test strokes along the margin. The signature usually sits low in a corner, in pencil or in charcoal.