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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.

Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938) The first several weeks of a new novel, Oates has said, are particularly difficult and demoralizing: “Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.” From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey #dailyrituals #inktober #JoyceCarolOates @masoncurrey

Definitely doodling---This is my first mandela and it ranged from great fun to great frustration. It ended up a little "waby swaby," but I suppose that's in keeping. It's 12 inches across with 32 points. Drawn with a micron pen, then colored in markers (in whatever colors I happened to have) and has colored pencil shadows. I scanned it into PhotoShop and played with altering colors. Made a green one for my green-crazy friend and a subdued desaturated one for myself. It's quite printable on my oversized color laser printer---so ill be a fun "social distancing" poster gift for my friends. Each one with a personal color range.

I frankly never thought I would ever draw She Hulk on paper especially with a marker..I thought I would draw her on a iPad first which sadly I don't have yet.she is really fun to draw mainly when you can give her big muscles,after all she is a hulk!She Hulk in the blue dress is a screenshot redraw from this https://netflix-news.atsit.in/th/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/e0b8a1e0b8b5e0b8a3e0b8b2e0b8a2e0b887e0b8b2e0b899e0b8a7e0b988e0b8b2-marvel-studios-e0b984e0b8a1e0b988e0b895e0b989e0b8ade0b887e0b881e0b8b2.jpg From the series

2023, Ballpoint pen on 5” x 8” acid free Moleskine sketchbook paper, Adobe Photoshop. First sketchbook drawing of 2024! Based on a photo of a model in a makeup company advert.

(HB pencil on 74mm x 106mm paper) A dreamscape (automatic drawing) image. A weird one showing a somewhat annoyed elf hiding amongst the trees and shrubs. The face itself was one of the first things to take form and I liked the way the dream construct became the texture of the tree branches.

My first, and only orc female character. Her name's Orc-Livia.

Neal has found another Labrador – her name is Bella. He has also met Peter. Peter is worried about Neal. He thinks the boy might be a runaway. He is also about to patiently explain to Neal that when a dog is wearing a nametag with their owner’s info on it, then that dog is not an unwanted stray, as Neal seems to believe, but just a missing dog.

I'm participating in Mabs Drawlloween Club this year, a challenge created by Mab Graves (http://mabgraves.com/). I'm combining it with Inktober, and this is the result! Here's my drawing for the first day's prompt: Witch.

Ok. The "comic cartoon" featuring Mugman's over. So, even though It's going to be over soon, I will be uploading "Drawtober23'" from Deviant Art. First up; Spooky. A spooky monster.

I have started keeping a digital sketchbook. This is the first page.

I started this with the Doodle Addicts Pre/post quarantine diptych drawing challenge in mind, but I didn't make the deadline (I started it on the day of the deadline, so it was a little ambitious!). The first half of the drawing represents before the corona virus and the second half is after the virus and kind of living with it. No pencil, just straight into the drawing with ink. It's rough, but I like how it turned out and there are some fun characters.

I know this might not look very nicely finished, but it was my first time trying procreate to draw something.

These are the first of the collage set. I like the later ones a little better but they're sort of interesting and fun anyway.

Whimsical, abstract geometric design in black & white. First in the Funky Flowers in Black & White series. In sizes 6" x 8" to 16" x 20".

Use your head...

Cici recently got a Spirograph and this is her first drawing using it!!

This drawing, with a bit of watercolour, was done years ago in North Vancouver during a figure drawing session. Probably 15 - 20 minutes. Watercolour, subtly employed, can have wonderful affects. The challenge of working fast forced me to ditch excess thinking. And it's funny, because at first I thought, "Oh, this is terrible." Then the next day, with fresh eyes, or checking out the drawing in a mirror, I think, "Wow! How did I not see how good this is?" Never throw out your artwork immediately after a drawing session. Give them a few days and look at your work with fresh eyes.

Fun fact:it's a little cartoon idea of mine,it's definitely not the first but it has a pretty simple plot I will share:it's Al Heyman, living as a parent and as a magician, juggling both with his children.he often gets in shenanigans especially with his friends!but the evil varzar wants his magic to take over the ghost world.his magician outfit is quite difficult to draw due to the rainbows especially the hat.another fun fact is that the ghosts in the ghost world have 80s and 90s technology.ill share more about this in my WordPress account

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...

I printed my black and white zentangle drawing on marker paper and colored it with alcohol markers. At first it was a bit to garish with too much contrast, so I painted a warm grey over the whole piece. That gave me what I was looking for. Of course, THEN I completely undermined that with making a bunch of wild colored ones (two shown here) by playing with them in Photoshop. I shall be using this (along with my Zentangle koi posted la while back) for printing blank cards that we sell for charitable (mostly foodbanks) organizations.

'Queen of Marseille' I I have discovered a few unfinished sketches from my previous travels to France from few years ago. I decided to bring them back to life. I think before I didn't like them so much as I do now. My first lady of Marseille saying 'Salut' and I am slowely saying 'Goodbye' to the summer...

Rad experience joining a local drawing group for the first time yesterday although I didn't realise how inconvenient my backpack was going to be, it made me slow to set up / pack up and a few of us had to organise a locker at the gallery as we didn't know backpacks weren't allowed so I spent most of today sewing a bag/sketchbook cover which fits an A4 sketchbook, pencils, id and phone and also has some backing in it so I can easily sketch on my lap without dropping my stuff all over the place. I'm going to do a bit more work on my weird comic book page tonight but in the mean time this is my sea serpent digitally coloured, he lives at Apollo Bay and likes to sleep camouflaged amongst the lifesaver rings.

Was in an art slump, so have started new project (aim to finish by September) where I am drawing a "song" from each of Circa Survive's mainline albums (six total) - the first is from Juturna, song "Holding Someone's Hair Back".

Pencil sketch of the first design for a set of Glow-In-the-Dark posters featuring famous exploratory man-made space satellites. Will post the final image next . . .

heelo:) i drew this along time ago, this was the first drawing i coloured in on my ipad. i started this drawing on the train, when i was travelling to france with people i really love. everytime i look at this drawing it makes me so happy, because i think of all the beautiful memories. on my waterbottle, cleo (yes, my waterbottle has a name), is a giraffe wich inspired this drawing. have a wonderful day :)

Superstition : Cigarettes. The superstition that it is bad luck to light three cigarettes from one match appears to have originated during the Boer War. It was said that a sniper could spot where men might be as the first cigarette was being lit, take aim as the second was ignited and fire with deadly effect at the third. Two lights were enough for any group of men who valued their lives. From "A DICTIONARY OF OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS" by Philippa Waring

So I had this idea for a series; fun, whimsical paintings of pet rocks. Full of personality, sweet, make you laugh, that kind of vibe. First one I draw is this. I was so horrified by it I haven't drawn another one since. I'm not kidding; I'm actually quite upset to discover I can't draw "sweet". Or maybe it was a bad day.

I am delighted to share that I Am a Dragon! has been named to the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's 2024 Baker's Dozen: Thirteen Best Books for Family Literacy! Here is the list ( I am in such a good company!): - “10 Dogs” by Emily Gravett - “ABC and You and Me” by Corinna Luyken - “Bear with Me” illustrated by Kerascoët, Sebastien Cosset and Marie Pommepuy, - “The Concrete Garden” by Bob Graham - “How to Count to ONE (And Don't Even THINK About Bigger Numbers!)” by Caspar Salmon and illustrated by Matt Hunt - “I Am a Dragon! A Squabble and a Quibble” by Sabina Hahn, published by HarperCollins. - “If I Was a Horse” by Sophie Blackall - “The Kitten Story” by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Brittany Cicchese - “Mr. S” by Monica Arnaldo - “Night in the City” by Julie Downing - “Ruffles and the Cozy, Cozy Bed” by David Melling - “Simon and the Better Bone” by Corey R. Tabor - “You Go First” by Ariel Bernstein and illustrated by Marc Rosenthal

Something I drew a while ago, when I decided to look for things around the house that I could draw, rather than from photos. This was the first thing I did, a pair of my brown shoes on top of a stool. There are another 3 in the series of "things around the house", which I will post at some stage in the future.