Tag: ballpoint pens

Tiger

Drawn with ballpoint pens in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Fary

I love how portraits go through an ugly phase before resolving themselves. There’s always a point when I’m drawing when I wonder if the portrait is going to be a complete disaster or if it is going to work out OK and I have no idea what the answer will be. All I can do is keep working and hope that I will find a way to make it work. Ninety per cent of the time I do, but to be honest it doesn’t really matter. Obviously it’s great to have a portrait I like at the end of the process, but it’s the process that matters, working on my drawing to try to get past the ugly stage to make it less ugly, to resolve it and make something that feels at least partly complete.

This portrait of Fary was especially difficult and was very ugly about half way through. I left it and came back to it a couple of days later, worked on it for another hour and resolved it. It doesn’t have much of a likeness but it’s not ugly any more and I’m very happy with it.

Anatolii

A quick draw of Anatolii in blue biro today – too hot for anything more!

Neshama

This is Neshama from the Museum by Sktchy app. I decided to stop drawing her T this point because I really like the expression I’ve caught on her face and I have a tendency to overwork ballpoint pen drawings. I didn’t want to overwork this one.

Alina

It’s taken me more than a week to finish this portrait. I got stuck on the hair for some reason and now it feels either over or under done. I suppose I mean that I think I should have either left it alone sooner or I think I need to work on it more, but I don’t have the time or motivation so I’m leaving it here and moving on.

The face is the Alina from Museum by Sktchy, who I’ve drawn before, and I used my usual Bic 4 colour ballpoint pens.

Vazha

As time passes ballpoint pens are increasingly becoming my comfort zone but, if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you’ll have noticed that I’m gradually adopting a “less is more” approach. I like my ballpoint pen portraits best when they are simple and not too heavily worked.

I always work my first layer in blue and the hardest decision is always whether to add any more colour once I’ve done that initial blue layer. I loved how this looked with just a single layer of blue and I honestly can’t say if it’s better or worse with more colour added but I’m pretty happy with how it’s turned out.

I used 3 different Bic 4 colour ballpoint pens in a Life Noble Note Plain notebook and the muse is Vazha from the Museum by Sktchy app.

Anna

A quick ballpoint pen sketch of Nana from the Museum by Sktchy app today.

Jenny

A very quick draw of Jenny from the Museum by Sktchy app with my Bic 4 colour pens.

Lake

I love making digital drawings that look as much like drawing in a sketchbook with analog materials as possible. Georg Graf Von Westphalen’s ballpointy brush is the best ballpoint pen brush I’ve come across for Procreate. This portrait of Lake from the Museum by Sktchy app was drawn with the ballpointy brush using a colour palette I created from my favourite Bic 4-colour ballpoints. I love how it turned out, especially the hair.

You can find out more about Georg’s Procreate brushes here

Kate

There’s no question that drawing lines with a ballpoint pen is the most therapeutic kind of drawing for me. It’s just so simple and straightforward and I’m simply building up the image layer by layer with each colour. I’m still on sick leave at the moment and right now this is the kind of drawing that I find the most soothing.

The model is Kate from the Museum by Sktchy app and I used Bic 4 colour ballpoint pens in a Life Noble Note Plain Notebook.