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

1. Photography: A lot of hyper realistic work you see is probably drawn from a photo reference. Everything is already flattened into 2d, colors and values are fixed, and nothing is moving.

2. Abundant learning resources: modern artists can study techniques of past masters, and it’s way easier to find drawing classes/tutorials