HOME | DD
forkfighter β Tutorial for Ballpoint-Pens
Published: 2006-03-22 19:52:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 45442; Favourites: 330; Downloads: 866
Redirect to original
Description
Full title: Tutorial for ballpoint-pen drawings, 2nd version.This is my first tutorial here on dA, created during the work on my monster project. Some sketches and drawings from this project come along with several general hints and techniques, which makes the tutorial probably not only interesting for traditional artists, but also for others.
I hope you like it
Please tell me what you think of it!
Update 1/7/2008: 36 faves - thanks for the support! I didn't expect such reactions
Update 2/29/2010: 118 faves - this tutorial seems to be able to beat the number of faves on my daily deviation. dA community, you surprise me! thanks again!
Update 2/23/2011: 179 faves - now it's the most faved one of my deviations. guys, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT! unfortunately, i can't pay you off by creating new deviations right now, but i'll try to keep it up!
Update 10/07/2012: 253 faves. This calls for celebration!
Due to the overwhelming feedback, I just created a new, improved version of this tutorial, fixing some minor and major errors and visibility problems and featuring a new layout as well as additional ideas and sketches. Enjoy!
Feel free to check out my other tutorial on detailing:
[link]
Related content
Comments: 89
Great tutorial,
Very inspirational and informative.
π: 0 β©: 0
Wow, I can't believe how clean your lines turn out. Β My inkwork always ends up looking messy, no matter how much time I spend on it. Β *sighs* Β I've been practicing for nearly two years, but I haven't seen much improvement in my technique yet. Β How long have you been drawing with pens? Β Does practice make a significant difference in your work?
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks!
It's all about practice, really! I've been doing this for quite a while - I started working with pens something like 12-13 years ago, so yes, it takes a bit to really develop a technique. However, my linework hasn't changed much in the last 5-6 years. I guess the first 5 years were the ones which were really important for the technique itself. The hardest part for me in the beginning was to make achieve a linework in which parallel lines are really parallel when shading. In a lot of my earlier drawings the linework looks messy because the angle of the lines changes a lot, so it didn't result in a clean crosshatch shading.
Frankly, in the beginning it was quite frustrating for me too, but already in the first year drawing with pens I was really attracted to the contrasts that can be achieved when drawing with this medium.
Stick to it, it'll turn out fine one day if you keep practicing!!
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you. Β I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Β Thank you for the help. Β I'll keep working hard at my inkwork.^^
π: 0 β©: 0
However, if you could make a tutorial on how to use ballpoints to create portraits realistically, that would be pretty awesome too (:
π: 0 β©: 1
hi there,
thanks first of all for your comment, really appreciated!
unfortunately i'm really bad in creating portraits, so i guess you will have to look somewhere else for that
cheers and good luck!
π: 0 β©: 0
Awesome tutorial , this is something that I'll definatly have to try
π: 0 β©: 1
thanks a lot! have tons of fun, i am still fascinated by the oppertunities ballpoint pen drawings offer.
π: 0 β©: 0
Amazing tutorial, really detailed. I've never liked drawing with ballpoint pens much, because my lines always end up looking hairy and I can't erase it lol. But this has made me want to try again (:
π: 0 β©: 1
Nice to hear that! Actually you're right, ballpoint pen drawing has its downside. But still, I find the contrasts you can create with a ballpoint pen incomparable to everything except from ink (with which I can't work
Good luck on your drawings!
π: 0 β©: 0
This is fantastic -- lots of information and tips in here!
π: 0 β©: 1
thx a lot! nice to hear it was helpful!
π: 0 β©: 0
Oh my god. Simply amazing! Haven't read a tutorial that is so detailed and nicely done for a while <3
π: 0 β©: 1
thanks a lot! i really appreciate your comment and hope it was helpful to you in a practical way!
π: 0 β©: 0
Oh, I hear ya, my friend. ALL of my insprations come at the middle of the night. Not every time I'm awake by then - so my dreams are connected somehow to the inspiration and that's why I write down my dreams every morning.. well, not every single morning, but when I feel like it - I write it down. Then someday I open that book, read it all and go with the flow of inspiration...
BTW awesome tutorial. Very helpful. The text isn't boring. It's very interesting~
I am so happy I'm not the only one who's muse comes in the middle of the night!
π: 0 β©: 1
hey there,
thanks for the faves! i really appreciate them!
nice to hear that the tutorial was helpful to you! i created it exclusively for the dA community, thus positive feedback means a lot to me. unfortunately, i'm very short on time right now, so this reply has to be sufficient (i doubt so, though)
good luck on the development of your own style!
π: 0 β©: 1
thanks for the reply! I appreciate it, too!
^^
π: 0 β©: 0
Loved to read your tutorial ^^
You made me feel better and less insecure about my style and my horrible sketches xD...
this will help a lot thankyou ^^
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks! And you're very welcome!
It's basically a problem of a lot of artists that they invest too much time in a single sketch, just to make it look "finished" - despite the fact that a sketch can never be a finished piece of art, since it's just a kind of preview for the real artwork
π: 0 β©: 1
π: 0 β©: 1
Nah, useless is not quite it! They can be a source of inspiration when you're not able to think of a new idea for a new picture or can be an additional detail to other pictures... So don't you scrap them
π: 0 β©: 1
haha you are right ;D, don't worry I don't xD. I just save my favorite ones ^.^ an get rid of the others xD muahaha
π: 0 β©: 0
Wonderful lesson! I've taken a fancy to ballpoint drawing. Thanks for showing me some tips.
π: 0 β©: 1
You're very welcome! I think the ballpoint pen is a very underestimated artistic medium, so I thought maybe a tutorial could help making it more popular to some people
π: 0 β©: 0
Understandable and informative. Very nice. Makes me feel like drawing so I shall now go practice with my pens...
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you for your fave! I think today I would re-write some passages of this tutorial, but unfortunately I don't have the Corel-Photo-Paint-File anymore. It's nice to hear that this version works as well
I wanted to motivate other artists to draw with pens with this tut, therefore your reply makes me happy
π: 0 β©: 0
That's very nice to hear
π: 0 β©: 0
Very helpful tutorial! I am just beginning to experiment with ballpoint pen, which I just recently discovered that I love, so this tutorial was quite useful. Thanks again!
π: 0 β©: 1
You're very welcome! Thank YOU for the fave! Keep working with ballpoint pens, it's totally worth it
π: 0 β©: 1
I totally agree! I just love the way a finished ballpoint pen drawing looks.
And you're welcome!
π: 0 β©: 0
wow...I just made a journal staying I don't know my style any more. I really the general hints beforehand.
I always seen tutorials saying use microns pens or whatever they're called, but theyre kinda expensive. And look like liquid pens in general, if dont you have a fast sturdy hands, lines be shakey
π: 0 β©: 1
Basically, I don't use micron pens, because they tend to draw more than you actually want to draw. If your linework is not fluent enough, this results in spots in the picture where you stopped drawing for moment. Shaking isn't really a problem with ballpoint pens, because you're always able to stop drawing a line and start over again at the point you stopped some moments later, without a noticeable lack of junction.
Another reason why I use ballpoint pens is the level of detail you are able to reach with those pens. Maybe I just lack the talent or experience with micron pens, but I'm simply not able to create complex surfaces with them. Using a ballpoint pen, I'm able to draw multiple lines on very small areas without making the surface look just one-colored (which I end up in when I use microns).
Therefore, ballpoint-pens are a better alternative for me. But you should always bear in mind, that those effects you accidently create with microns sometimes make the picture look more artistic. Concerning this point, some ballpoint pen-drawings may look a bit sterile and lack a certain amount of variety in lining. To compensate that, you have to put a lot of effort in the development of your specific style... Unfortunately there's always a negative site of a certain medium...
Thanks for the fave!
π: 0 β©: 1
no problem! also your example at the bottom reminds me of some of Mark Kistel artwork.XD
π: 0 β©: 1
actually, i don't know mark kistel... but i'll be sure to check him out
π: 0 β©: 0
Nice.Very detailed,but gets the point across pretty nicely
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you very much! It's kind of difficult to write a tutorial for such a diverse audience like the one on dA. Nice to hear that it seemed to work for you
π: 0 β©: 1
Wonderful tutorial! I really learned a lot
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks a lot for faving! I really appreciate it!
π: 0 β©: 1
You're welcome!
π: 0 β©: 0
I did read this and now I came back. It is broken, I can't see it!
Could you re-upload this? I was going to study new drawing styles in year 2009 and this would have been the first step.
Thank you also for that detailing tutorial, it is very nice and useful.
π: 0 β©: 1
Hey there,
Thanks a lot for the fave and the comment, I really appreciate that. I actually can't reproduce your problem, since I can open the tutorial... Do you get a special error message? Maybe you could retry to open the tutorial on another computer?
π: 0 β©: 1
It must have been some bug in dA, because now I can see it too. It was missing about week and there was no error messages or anything. Maybe it was just a corrupted file in database or something since it got fixed in same time as there was an maintenance break couple hours ago.
Thank you, I'll now study these (and I saved an offline copy just in case) .
π: 0 β©: 1
I really like this tutorial, not just for the ball-point tutorial itself, but the encouragements you gave beforehand.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks a lot! I think that the approach of several tutorials here on dA is slightly wrong, since they don't help people to actually start working, but just leave them stunned in front of their screens... That's why I tried to bring some motivation into the whole situation. Nice to hear that it seems to work with you
π: 0 β©: 0
how would i go about printing this whole thing?
π: 0 β©: 1
I don't sell prints here on dA. Estimating you want to print it for yourself, feel free to do it. Just don't change anything on the picture, please. As it is only a tutorial, that's okay with me. I hope it's helpful
π: 0 β©: 0
Thank you very much this was a great tutorial.
This helped me alot and I will eventually get to my goal.
I will post some sketches and stuff and link them to you.
I don't know when I will get to do this.
I hope it is soon.
Thanks alot you are awesome!
π: 0 β©: 1
| Next =>