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 doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle ~
Norman Schwarzkopf
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When the battle goes outer space and you are the only left ⚔️
This is another drawing i'm really proud of creating on my tablet and thankfully I recorded the progress (I will be uploading the speedpaint next week) I drew an Octopus because I really love Octopuses since they are one of my favorite animals in the entire world.coloring was quite fun as well as experimenting which led me to create this.
Omens : Crocodile.
The Indians believe that crocodiles make a moaning and sighing noise like a human being in distress to attract their victims. They also have a curious superstition that the creatures shed their famous "tears" over a victim's head after they have devoured the body - and then polish off the head to complete the meal!
From "A DICTIONARY OF OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS" by Philippa Waring
Inspired by the colors of chemical element: Bismuth (with symbol Bi). Watercolor + Ballpoint pen on 140lb Strathmore Vision watercolor paper (Size: 6” x 9”)
A flock of pelicans with their beaks open waiting for fishermen to throw out tasty morsels. I drew this from a photo I took last month, from a coastal vacation. India Inks and watercolours.
I have a little Moleskine (3.5 x 5.5) notebook that I only draw skulls in. I started in November of 2013 and I do one whenever the urge strikes me. It's not like a skull-a-day thing but sometimes I do get into a period where I will draw one every day for a while then I won't draw any for months. I even lost it for a while and was very sad. I think the longest gap between pages has been a year. This is the most recent skull, drawn on 05.28.2018. Most of them are posted on my Instagram but you have to scroll back a ways to get at the bulk of them.
Recently I saw beautiful Van Gogh exhibition. I really enjoyed movement of his brush and vivid colours. It was more about energy and feelings than realistic details.
I am always gravitating towards realism and always want to spend more and more time perfecting paintings like they are never really finished so this time I decided to challenge myself not to do that.
A motif I having been enjoying in my sketchbooks lately but this time experimenting with positive and negative space. Watercolor and Posca pen in 8.25x11.75 Moleskine sketchbook.
Recent commission: How do women move forward when doors are continually closing in front of them? Doors that were open in the past are now being closed by those who think that you should live your life the way they do even though your life situation is vastly different from theirs. 2022, 13” x 19” Ballpoint Pen on Paper, Digital. Model: AmyM
This is the centre section of a cartoon I did back in my university days for the student newspaper. It was fun to do, but took a lot of time. I hope to put it into a collection of comics.
Many beginnings.
Beginning 6.
The best ice cream in the world is made from the clouds you gather at dusk on the beach. Everyone knows that.
* Starting is easy, it's the middle that is often a muddle. And I won't even mention the endings. Here are some beginnings for children stories that flitter through my head. https://www.instagram.com/p/COxp0KSh4KR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Running Late. The personification of the reaper running late for his next appointment.
10” x 15” Original ink and watercolor illustration on Strathmore 500 Series 4-ply Bristol illustration paper.
Signed by the artist. Unframed.
I was too late and missed the entry deadline…eating too much ProCrastinate?? lol. Anyways, couldn’t resist and fired up Adobe Dimensions, Illustrator and Photoshop for this quick and dirty advert.
This is a mashup of art styles. I'm not even sure how to describe it. Started with the main mushroom that is outlined and then went crazy around it. Also experimented with water reflections a bit.
