I’m often asked about my Bic pen drawings and how I do them. It starts with a good foundational drawing, the ballpoint pen part is just trying to colour within the lines. I try to do my best to explain the process, but the best way to show my progress is by posting my efforts to master pen drawings over the span of 3 or so years. I have been doodling/drawing with ballpoint pens as far back as I can remember - they were cheap, readily available and always lying around the house. It wasn’t until I was bored during a particularly long team meeting-conference call (around 2016-17) that I started to think about the possibilities of ballpoint pens as serious portrait illustration tools. My first experiments with full colour ink portrait drawings were rather crude, but that’s the point of learning new techniques—as long as the curiosity and the love of drawing is there, you can transfer that skill and passion into any medium. Remember, the most exquisite drawings and paintings you see didn’t materialise fully formed, they started out as failed experiments. Failure after failure after failure. It’s important to remember this when you get discouraged (I've failed spectacularly over the years). The only difference between the accomplished artist and the beginner is hundreds of hours of practice. Talent can only get you so far. It’s the hard work that you do behind the scenes that makes your work look effortless. Keep doodling. Keep learning. Stay curious.
It knocks one's the door, go to and see who is it.
Bátem á pórta, vêde ôu vêja quêm é.
"English as She is Spoke" by Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolina. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKRPu8kB50p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Part of a personal project I'm working on right now, to experiment with unfamiliar art styles and practice lettering skills by drawing animals. This is my first foray into cubism-inspired artwork (definitely don't claim to be an expert on actual cubism)--it was way more fun than I expected! I think I'll be trying some more...
(HB pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard) It's not surprising that the pandemic would inspire me to do a work such as this. How could it not? It shows both the growing need for social interaction people have in isolation, along with the need to protect themselves. These two things have come together in a piece depicting a strange group of gate-crashing party-goers.
I incorrectly shaded the dimples in this peanut and couldn't recover from the mistake. I post this as a reminder that the path of success is cobbled with failures.
