Me and My Ballpoint Pen: Discover Art Beyond the Doodle: Drawing Skills and Abstract Drills for Artistic Excellence

by Jennifer Mullin

Overview

Learn to How to Doodle Like a Pro!

Discover the art, satisfaction and enjoyment of drawing in one, two, three or more colors of ballpoint pen.

• Practice skills with abstract doodles to make beautiful artwork
• Learn how to shade, sketch and bring color to your work
• Explore mixed media and collage techniques for next—level masterpieces

Packed with drills, prompts, galleries, and techniques, Me and My Ballpoint Pen offers inspiring advice on how to start, improve or master the art of ballpoint pen sketching.

Take your doodling to the next level and create impressive sketches, portraits, and artwork with your ballpoint pen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781446315293
Publisher:	David & Charles
Publication date:	08/05/2025
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jennifer Mullin is a mixed media artist, illustrator, and art instructor based in Wisconsin, USA.
She’s a painter turned ballpoint pen artist as she fell in love with the ultimate portability of a sketchbook and a pen.

In 2016, her sketchbook drawings went viral on Pinterest and she was inundated with requests from people interested in learning her abstract ballpoint technique.

Read an Excerpt

The ubiquitous ballpoint pen is a fantastic drawing tool. It’s inexpensive, ultra portable, and is available in a wide range of colors. With a pen, I can draw anywhere, any time (often on my couch with a cat nearby and the TV on in the background).

I really got hooked on drawing with ballpoints during my time as an art teacher. While I was sitting in meetings, I’d often draw as I listened. After years of filling sketchbooks, I developed a series of marks and techniques that I came back to over and over again. With lots of time and space for experimentation and play, I developed a signature style all of my own.

Weirdly, the “finished work” I was making and selling at the time had nothing to do with my pen sketches. I was deep into mixed media collage and watercolor, with some technical pen work thrown in. Eventually, my pen work and my mixed media work intertwined. I started using pen to shade in my illustrations, and over time, pen crept into every piece I made.

For years, I drew chairs, birds, florals, and abstracts, all with a black pen, helping me to master the art of shading with a pen. Finally, I began to feel limited by only using black ink, and started experimenting with pens of every color, especially in my abstract work and never looked back.

Around this time, my multicolor abstract pen sketches went viral on Pinterest. People were enamored with my work and I received hundreds of requests for instruction. Enter the “Jen + Ink” ballpoint drawing courses, where I teach my abstract pen drawing techniques. I certainly hit a nerve with these, as they’ve been taken by thousands around the world.

For almost a decade now, ballpoint pens have been my primary drawing tool. I’m continually inspired and challenged by the humble pen and I foresee many more years of creative exploration with a pen in hand.

In this book, you will learn how to render both realistically and abstractly with a ballpoint pen. I’ll share all of my ballpoint drawing secrets that I’ve picked up over the years and show you how to use the humble ballpoint to create expressive, detailed art.

Ballpoint drawing is a slow, meditative process. I can spend hours over several days on one sketchbook spread, so don’t feel like you must complete the exercises in this book in one sitting. Take your time and enjoy the process.

My hope is that this book inspires you to explore ballpoint, learn the basics, and then make them your own. I’ve included detailed step—by—step instructions to get you going, as well as some more open—ended projects that you could take in any direction you please.