You won't believe it's ballpoint (updated)

A year or more ago at Flax Pen-to-Paper, another customer was trying out some ballpoint pens. And when I say trying out, I don't mean squiggling a few lines or signing his name. I mean writing in large Spencerian script and Copperplate script, complete with huge line variation . . . from a ballpoint!  I always regretted not asking him if I could shoot video with my phone and post it on my blog.

The other day, I think I ran across something even more impressive with a ballpoint pen (well, many ballpoint pens), and I hope the artist, Samuel Silva, doesn't mind me showing his work:

Incredible! There are several more works at the link. The odd thing is, some of them look more realistic — much more realistic — than others. But they're all amazing. 

In fact, I started to wonder if I was falling for an "urban legend" trick, so I tried looking this up on snopes.com, and I didn't find anything. Is ballpoint pen art like this really possible?  Check out the other works and let me know what you think.

Update (9/3/2012): My Dad sent me a link to a second site profiling Silva, which has more of his works. My doubt in the legitimacy of these drawings was once high. Now, not so much. Oh, one other thing pointed out at the new link: Silva is a lawyer. But apparently, that's where the similarities between him and me end!

You won't believe it's ballpoint (updated)