The Lowly Ball Point Pen

 One of my drawings done with blue ball point pens, and a detail below:

There are some wonderful artists, who specialize in the use of this lowly tool, and make amazing drawings with it. It does take patience, and a light touch, but that comes with the using of it. You get a feel for it. How to vary the pressure in your lines to produce the effect that you like.You can build up the tones with cross hatching, and use the contours of your subject to find the direction of your hatching marks. (Notice my pointer here, from yesterday's post?)

I would suggest a fine point pen, or even extra fine, which are tricky to find. Most drug stores and grocery stores carry the medium points, but if you go online, you'll be able to find a fine or extra fine point.

Andrea Joseph is a terrific ball point pen artist, though lately she's been branching into other media and styles. If you want to see some of her amazing work, click on this link, and follow her Flickr from page 5 to 13. I promise that you'll be impressed. Maybe even inspired. (Check out all the shoes on page 6, yes, all ball point!) See what you have around the house, give it a try. Or otherwise....

Here are a couple of links to amazon bp pens, in fine point, and in various colors.

Pilot Precise V5

uni-ball Vision