Why are modern artists able to draw hyper-realistic art using just a pen/pencil, but artists from 100+ years ago weren’t able to?

Question

Edit: In regards to what I mean by hyper-realistic, I’m referring to artwork seen here: Pics

these are almost photograph quality.

In: 0

Answer 1

Look at biology drawings, of plants and animals. These were often drawn by scientists who learnt how to draw, so the skills were there.