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.
Situational awareness is important these days. Pre-pandemic, I sometimes take my doodles to coffee shops during my lunch breaks and relax for half an hour or so by mindlessly scribbling/shading with my Bic pen. People usually leave me alone but this drawing made me realise that not everyone wants to see a man drawing a naked man. A few people took exception to my subjects’ lack of clothing and made their displeasure known by telling me. Suffice to say, I try not to go into coffee shops anymore while working on subject matter that might offend anyone. Bic4 Ballpoint Pen on 9” x 12” Archival paper. Model: Malik_E
One of he Heroes of Nornwan in the Time of Orkinia . Half orc, half candyborn . Raised in the Church Faction . He helps Orkinia slay the Automic Dragon ad bring peace to the land of Nornwan.
I thought I would play with crayons this morning. The bird with the cute hairdo is a Livingstone’s turaco from the family Musophagidae. Found in the subtropical lowlands of southeastern Africa. This bird’s plumage is the color of spring. Crayola crayons on toned tan sketch paper.
I suppose this was just a tester/practice piece? My first actual still life from observation and my first time actually using charcoal (yes, I've never truly used charcoal before. Charcoal and pastels are two things I avoid. Their looseness and freeness scare me, considering how rigid I can be). Not sure how to feel about this one. I'm my worst critic, and I've known that for a long time now. There's a lot of practice and progress to be made, but it turned out half-way decent.
I finally finished it!made on Autodesk Sketchbook!I finally drew a goose wearing a clown costume!just in time for Halloween!Im surprised to not see any drawings of geese dressed up as clowns it's usually dogs and cats but since I love birds such as chickens and ducks,I had to draw a goose.im very happy how it turned out to be considering I'm still using my phone to draw.
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)
I'm finally finished with drawing Morrison again (this time more better than before) and I must say I'm actually pleased with it considering he's hard to draw.speedpaint:
https://youtu.be/WrDSbuIB6Pk
As a child of the 70s, I have very fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of our little colour TV, and watching and adoring Lynda Carter bounce around, kicking ass and fighting crime. I’ve always loved Wonder Woman, and I'm fascinated by the myriad ways she’s been imagined and re-imagined over the years.
For mine I focused on her dualism – the goddess beauty vs warrior strength, combined with the colour and curves of my childhood. In terms of the art, I thought it would be fun to allude to classicism for the subjects association with Greek mythology and form, and balletic contrapposto as a homage to Lynda's classic spin.
Prints available via my website.
I haven't drawn any of my demon OC's in a while (most of them are really hard to draw)So I made this featuring Spider queen Vlesarais,Gresaltz,Princess Neera Veera,Tenebris lastly Elvarelyn (back of her head only)
Happy to sharing with us my final plate of Dwarf Jay (Cyanolyca nanus), there are a few illustration for this taxa that is endemic to Mexico. Dwarf jay show patterns of occupancy consistent with habitat specialists. Like raccons, Dwarf Jay have a black mask and is predominantly blue. Technic: hybrid media (graphite, colored pencils and SketchBook Pro).
After struggling with horse anatomy from photos, I finally decided to search for white horses, figuring that I would be able to see details more easily than on darker photos. It worked out well, the details were much more discernible.
This is an original painting of a secluded cove in the trees. I’ve tried sharing my art before and for criticized and accused of plagiarism when I drew an original animal that resembled that of another. I assure that my works are original. If they aren’t, I will give credit where credit is due.
Watercolors and fineliners on Aquarelle, 300 GSM. Fantasy has always appealed to me ever since I was a kid, and I often find myself lost and wandering around in the fantastical world of "could've been's"
I love creating work that starts from a point in nature and develops into something more abstract, something that can be interpreted in many different ways. It’s interesting to hear what people see, what connection to their own life they bring when viewing a work.
