This is Sktchy muse Rain Rose drawn with ballpoint pen in my tiny Moleskine sketchbook. Feel like I’m definitely developing a personal style now, which means I’m much less hesitant to start drawing with my pens, and my ballpoint portraits are looking bolder as a result.
I’ve been practicing with ballpoint pens again. I drew this portrait of Jana D in my tiny pocket Moleskine using two Hema 6-colour ballpoint pens and a Paperchase 8-colour ballpoint pen. The pens aren’t great quality- they ‘re quite leaky and they also dry up frequently (hence all the scribbles on the opposite page to get them going again) but they have nice fine nibs which are great for such a tiny Moleskine.
I’ve been working on this slowly for a few days and it was going so well and then I messed up the nose. And with ballpoint there’s no way of undoing the mess. So I just have to live with it and learn from it, and hopefully not make that mistake again.
I drew Ylenia in my tiny Moleskine sketchbook with Hema and Paperchase multicolour ballpoint pens.
I’m still a complete novice at ballpoint pen drawing but I love doing it and I’m improving very slowly. I love the richness of colour in really good ballpoint pen portraits and I’m a huge fan of great ballpoint artists like Robin Hilthouse and Nicolas Sanchez. And I know the only way to develop those kind of skills is to practice, practice, practice. So right now I’ve learned the basics and now I’m trying to find a drawing and hatching style that works for me. I feel like I’m getting a little closer in this portrait of Jade (in cosplay as Coraline).
I drew this in my tiny Moleskine with a range of multicolour ballpoints from the British brand Paperchase and the Dutch brand Hema.
This is a little ballpoint pen practice in my pocket Moleskine. It’s also an entry into this week’s Old School Sktchy wax challenge for Halloween. And, of course, it’s a portrait of the very lovely Scout Penelope, the absolute best child muse on Sktchy.
drawing faces 