Biro-art - fantastic ballpoint drawings.
July 15, 2006 3:54 AM Subscribe
Biro-art - fantastic ballpoint drawings.
Some of these are really great. The little details are hilarious. "Acme Otter Suit." The Death of Penguins riding a jolly walrus. The cloven feet of Devil Duck. I got bored with all the "ant" ones, though.
posted by Gator at 5:17 AM on July 15, 2006
posted by Gator at 5:17 AM on July 15, 2006
If you can coax him into putting that cow porn up as a t-shirt, I'd buy one.
posted by crunchland at 5:27 AM on July 15, 2006
posted by crunchland at 5:27 AM on July 15, 2006
Speaking as someone who helped pioneer this medium back in the 1960s and 70s, I acknowledge this artist's excellence, while at the same time, pointing out that he is not really challenging the medium. The shapes and strokes and modelling he achieves are the easiest effects to do with a ball point pen, or biro. The mode of caricature, the breakup of the page, and the range of values are all very comfortably done and correspond to the roll of the pen over the paper, swiveling at the arc of the palm. He should recognize that these broad caricatures have been done before with biro. What he needs to do now is to bring the medium to bear on the realistic human face and figure. Realistic depictions of human beings and their clothing are a struggle in ball point, but the person who does it successfully will have accomplished something new and potentially transcendent.
posted by Faze at 5:33 AM on July 15, 2006
posted by Faze at 5:33 AM on July 15, 2006
Inhuman Pyramid faq
...... This drawing took seven months to complete and is my largest and most complex drawing to date.
...... Drawn as usual on sheets of A4 printer paper, Inhuman Pyramid took 41 seperate sheets to complete, and three weeks to assemble in the computer. Previously to this the most sheets I'd used on a picture was eleven on From Heaven to Hell
...... The full sized assembled picture is over two meters tall and a meter and a half wide - that's six and three quarter feet high by five feet wide.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:40 AM on July 15, 2006
...... This drawing took seven months to complete and is my largest and most complex drawing to date.
...... Drawn as usual on sheets of A4 printer paper, Inhuman Pyramid took 41 seperate sheets to complete, and three weeks to assemble in the computer. Previously to this the most sheets I'd used on a picture was eleven on From Heaven to Hell
...... The full sized assembled picture is over two meters tall and a meter and a half wide - that's six and three quarter feet high by five feet wide.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:40 AM on July 15, 2006
Faze: if he's around on monday, I'll give him a challenge.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:11 AM on July 15, 2006
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:11 AM on July 15, 2006
Here's a couple of my biro drawings from the early seventies. Not great, but it was an effort to pull out of the caricature trap...
posted by Faze at 9:52 AM on July 15, 2006
posted by Faze at 9:52 AM on July 15, 2006
I'm sure he could make money making a poster of his Inhuman Pyramid.
posted by Blue Stone at 11:00 AM on July 15, 2006
posted by Blue Stone at 11:00 AM on July 15, 2006
...bring the medium to bear on the realistic human face and figure...Is an elfin face and figure good enough?
posted by JoKeR at 11:04 AM on July 15, 2006
Fantastic! Makes me wish I had at least one artistic bone in my body.
posted by persona non grata at 4:04 PM on July 15, 2006
posted by persona non grata at 4:04 PM on July 15, 2006
Dave Archambault seems to have headed in a direction more to Faze's liking. I think they are both excellent.
posted by Gamecat at 6:52 PM on July 15, 2006
posted by Gamecat at 6:52 PM on July 15, 2006
In case there was any doubt, the image I included above was done using only colored ball point pens by George Barr.
A larger image of the drawing can be found here.
posted by JoKeR at 7:54 PM on July 15, 2006
A larger image of the drawing can be found here.
posted by JoKeR at 7:54 PM on July 15, 2006
Realistic depictions of human beings and their clothing are a struggle in ball point, but the person who does it successfully will have accomplished something new and potentially transcendent.
I would assume Gamecat's link to Archambault would pretty much fulfill your criteria for transcendence. I think he easily qualifies for "realistic depictions" to the point of almost (monochrome) photorealism.
posted by Ynoxas at 10:11 PM on July 15, 2006
I would assume Gamecat's link to Archambault would pretty much fulfill your criteria for transcendence. I think he easily qualifies for "realistic depictions" to the point of almost (monochrome) photorealism.
posted by Ynoxas at 10:11 PM on July 15, 2006
Ynoxas,
I dunno that Archambault would fulfill Faze's criteria for transcendence- mainly because tracing photographs and then depicting them in pen and ink is not exactly pushing any creative bounderies. My own personal definition of art is extremely broad, but with the exception of an artist like Chuck Close, who made every daub of paint, pencil, or charcoal count on its own in his photo-realistic portraits that he mapped out from photographs, that process is closer to say, paint by numbers, than art. I prefer the originality and actual creative problem solving on Biro-Art and I hope the artist takes Faze's advice (which I think was given out of respect, rather than derision) and pushes his vision further in a direction that is completely his own.
posted by stagewhisper at 3:41 PM on July 16, 2006
I dunno that Archambault would fulfill Faze's criteria for transcendence- mainly because tracing photographs and then depicting them in pen and ink is not exactly pushing any creative bounderies. My own personal definition of art is extremely broad, but with the exception of an artist like Chuck Close, who made every daub of paint, pencil, or charcoal count on its own in his photo-realistic portraits that he mapped out from photographs, that process is closer to say, paint by numbers, than art. I prefer the originality and actual creative problem solving on Biro-Art and I hope the artist takes Faze's advice (which I think was given out of respect, rather than derision) and pushes his vision further in a direction that is completely his own.
posted by stagewhisper at 3:41 PM on July 16, 2006
I love this biro art! How inspiring! Thanks for yet another great post Wolfdog. (Yours are some of my favs). I love the "ant" series. Especially the pedant.
Wow, Faze, Wonderful drawings! I love the one on top. Can't access the photobucket site, any other site I can look at your art?
Really good additional links in the thread.
posted by nickyskye at 11:25 AM on July 24, 2006
Wow, Faze, Wonderful drawings! I love the one on top. Can't access the photobucket site, any other site I can look at your art?
Really good additional links in the thread.
posted by nickyskye at 11:25 AM on July 24, 2006
« Older A podcast for learning Italian. | The Force is strong with this one Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
And yes, it's just a biro and some paper.
Extraordinary.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 4:57 AM on July 15, 2006