Threw together this pattern study last week. Been using Posca pens since December and I'm loving how quickly they dry. I can throw together quick sketches without having to worry too much about smearing the ink as I move along.
Kuwei... He's so underrated. Can we stop hating on him for kissing Jesper for one second to appreciate how naughty and charming an act that was? Like, he just smirked. He was like, "Yup, I just got Wylan mad at you and mad at himself for that and mad at me! Isn't it funny? You're a good kisser." Like that scene- that was amazing. Kuwei is amazing. Anyway, this was a little doodle of Kuwei as a solemn inferni. Little did I know that he would be setting fire to forests in KoS lol! Yup, I liked the surprise of "pretend I'm Wylan to kiss Jesper and set forests on fire at Os Alta" Kuwei better than this pensive Little Palace student, but I drew it and it came out okay, so here it is.
Zoomed in shot of "Pattern Interrupt". 2020. Size: 32" x 40" / Micron pens on archival museum board. This piece was all drawn freehand - no rulers or measuring tools were used to create this artwork.
What happens when Jimmy is reading Ezekiel in the morning then discovering @themarcuskingband and @billystrings and doodling on the same day? There is no logical reason to throw all this randomness together in one drawing. This stream of consciousness improv drawing can get weird at times. All I can say is if you were in my head 24/7 it would all make perfect sense. I have become comfortably weird.
Maia, one of two current German Shepherds was born here at our house ten years ago. She is a grand old lady with a big ears, a big ruff and a sweet personality. This drawing was done from a photo reference AND her sleeping at my feet. I used Pigma Micron Pens in black and brown with a little graphite smudging to add a bit of shadow.
First real art of the year. It took longer than I wanted but I love how it came out. Guess that's what happens when you put time into your projects - go figure. Just a little Copy Cat art from a beautiful, innocent, charming film - Ponyo. What's your favorite Studio Ghibli Film?
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.
Bic4 Ballpoint Pen, Sanrio Novelty 10 Colour Ballpoint Pen on Archival 8.5" x 11" paper.
A breakdown of the Bic4 pen and No-name 10 colour pen layering that I’ve used.
Drawing in a single direction instead of using back-and-forth movement alleviates some of the blotching that happens when using ballpoint pens. The back-and-forth method usually deposits the gunk that builds up on the tip of the ballpoint, smearing them in unexpected and unfortunate places on the drawing. When using the back-and-forth method, I usually have a napkin handy in order to clean the tip of the pen. Model: Meadhbh (Maeve)
"Retro 1" is a quick freehand drawing I created last year. Size of the original is 9" x 12". I used Posca pens on archival paper. Limited edition prints are available. Want to see a time-lapse video of the process? Check it out on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMNAQpjh-Jl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Taken me a while to finish this one - not feeling very focused lately. Also, I restricted myself to using Bic’s yellow ink, which is way more vibrant than the cheap 10-colour ink click pens that I usually use.
This started as a line drawing based on a photo of peonies in the garden. It’s drawn with three different pens: Micron 005, Micron 03 and Faber Castell Pitt superfine (0.3) on 11x14 Strathmore Bristol Vellum. The paper isn’t terribly tolerant of wet media, so I played around with tinting it in Photoshop because I wasn't sure how it would go. But I liked it in color enough to chance painting the drawing with the nice and bright Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolors. It's photographed it on my drafting table with my glasses for scale. The lamp has a daylight bulb, so I think the color (at least where the light is more prominent) is fairly true.
More ballpoint pen experiments. This was trying to "blend" colors, using ball point pens in a similar way to colored pencils. I found Layering evenly to be pretty difficult, esp with the pens blotching and very very limited burnishing. The interesting thing is that the paper doesn't seem to get "tired" the way it does with pencils. This is just cheap printer card stock.
My idea was to make a textile pattern for fabric printing. Drawn on paper with a micron pen .005, colored with pens then put into Photoshop for some color manipulation, blurring of lines and pattern arrangement.
"Whirlwind 20”, an original drawing. Micron pens on archival paper. Size: 4” x 6”. Title, signature, and date in the back of the drawing. This drawing is the 20th in a series of drawings posted over a period of 100 days. The original post date on this drawing was September 20, 2020.
One of my favourite series. I'm trying to strike the right balance between the abstract and the realism, and I think I try to do that through my use of colours. It's the most rewarding feeling when you use unexpected colours and they come together somehow! Acrylics, watercolour pens and posca markers.
I was on the fence of whether or not I was going to make a piece for the prompt, but I'm glad I did. I tested out some watercolor pens I had recently gotten (I definitely have to practice with them a bit more). I didn't really have a plan for this, and it was a bit fun to do something so spontaneously.