Realistic painting with a ballpoint pen from Andrey Poletaev (36 photos)

Andrey Poletaev is one of the pioneers and visionaries of the Ballpoint Pen Art direction (the art of drawing with a ballpoint pen). His love of street life and its depiction quickly became a trendsetter in the field of painted cityscapes. Unsurpassed technical excellence and attention to detail clearly distinguish him from the general mass of artists of the popular movement.

What was once a childhood hobby has grown into a never-ending passion and dedication to the urban theme. Poletaev explored many areas of painting, including oil, pencil, sculpture and other visual techniques, but drawing with a ballpoint pen is what the artist truly achieved at the highest level.

“In each drawing I improve the techniques I have mastered and introduce new ones,” says Andrey Poletaev. “I try to achieve the maximum effect of optical illusion. I use many different layers of ink: layers of very light, long strokes, tightly packed together; layers applied at different angles to create uniform gray surfaces; layers applied at higher pressure to the nib. Variable stroke density, their length and the angle at which they are applied; sharpness or, on the contrary, blurriness, create the perception of surfaces with different textures, and several layers of ink create a sense of depth.”

Indeed, it is difficult to imagine what precision of hand is needed, what visionary vision is needed in order to create dozens of shades with the help of two colors, and with the help of one thin line to give the image a three-dimensional volume. This is probably the secret of Andrei Poletaev’s unconditional success.