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.
Not nice. Not happy. An unhappy ending to an unhappy and struggling world. we tried . Now we have been given Illoniri, we start over, and this time the people are different, not just human, but elves and orcs, and people made of candy . Hope starts when we give up hopelessness and embrace new. Don't ask yourself which of these last people you may be . Just ask yourself if you want a better world than this. It really isn't about becoming someone, but finding out who you really are. Bloom .
Friday night I sit at a lantern near the exit of the subway Wilmersdorferstraße. Next to me a pile of electric scooters, their taillights shining red, ready for rent. To the left, people go to the subway or come out, then the escalator starts, screeching
This sketchbook is all about triangle patterns! Each page starts with a base layer of connecting triangles. From there, I fill in different patterns on each page, challenging myself to come up with new ideas for each page.
This sketchbook is all about triangle patterns! Each page starts with a base layer of connecting triangles. From there, I fill in different patterns on each page, challenging myself to come up with new ideas for each page.
This sketchbook is all about triangle patterns! Each page starts with a base layer of connecting triangles. From there, I fill in different patterns on each page, challenging myself to come up with new ideas for each page.
A working page for a book i am developing about vampires. i starts with a raw ink sketch, gets scanned and i work them up on a xp pen tablet - but this is just experimental - and not final.
A3 format, acrylic, felt pen, colored pencils
Visual artists from the World of Fantasy are familiar with these creatures who are alive to every creator. Their court cannot be affected, there is no way to deceive the inner voice that knows the truth, created by the Observers. When the artist starts with some work, they appear, at first in a small number. At the end of their work, eg some pictures or sculptures, and especially when finished, their number is significant, they carefully study the artwork, and if they see a mistake, disharmony, lack of emotions, etc., dissatisfied will grumble somewhere inside artist's insights. The artist will feel that his work is nothing special, similar to many other artistic attempts that disappear in the dark of forgetfulness. Some spark is missing in his artistic creation, which would do its job gave a life that lasts. The disapproval of the Observer, their unpleasant resonance, if frequent, it can make a more sensitive artist to dump the brush and consecrate himself a completely different job, in which self-criticism does not play a significant role.
Another transitional one from 2017 in the size of 18" x 24". Looking back, this work starts showing me some glimpses. Abstracts do have an impersonal quality to it. Since it is not grounded with our everyday familiar objects or people, not knowing the visual language would be hard to understand the merits. I guess that is why I fell back to semi figurative.
It’s like the first «stand-alone” work (meaning not as a part of the lettering course). Btw I haven’t made it to the faux calligraphy lesson yet being stuck with the serifs. Used the tracing paper on top of the initial sketch.
P. S. As for the shovels: in Russia we have long holidays at the beginning of May and that’s when the whole gardening thing starts
Progression 4 of 6. Here the drawing starts to come together. I built on the layers I put down in the earlier portions of the drawing. Spent some time on the beard and mouth.
Doodling has become an essential part of new beginnings in my life. The blank page is encouraging unplanned art that surprises me and pushes me in new directions. This piece speaks to me of fresh starts and flowing into the future full of change and magical possibilities.
This drawing looks a bit like one of those "how are you feeling?" hospital charts. It starts out okay ("smiling cat", "drunk pirate"), and descends into full Lovecraftian Horror. I was driving toward a local town known for its unpleasant yokels, which probably explains the progression. Today, for the record, I'm 75% Apathetic Lumberjack, 5% glassy-eyed cat, and 20% Vampire Waluigi.
What do you see?
I usually don't have a plan when I put my pen to the paper. A lot of the time, I just draw what comes to me and sometimes it starts to form into other "bigger" shapes/objects like this one.
