(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper) One of the most horrific situations you could ever be in. You're going through the motions and you turn to see that there's no toilet paper left! With no-one to help you, you know you're going to have to make that terrible choice.....Your socks or your underwear!
The other day I saw a photograph of a man in a handmade costume of a frog with a huge pack of cigarettes on his back and holding a cigarette.
Then I tried to find it again and I am coming up blank. So blank as a a matter of fact, that now I am not even sure if I didn't see it in a dream.
If you have seen this photo, let me know!
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.
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.
