Drawing Spring 2017

Find Great Drawing
Instruction
K Reclining Nude by Dan Gheno, from Figure Drawing Master Class
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ISBN: 9781440339943
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in Figure Drawing Master Class. This take-home course covers
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hands, and how to accurately compose your figures. With the
historical references and the drawing instruction in this book, you
will learn the critical skills needed to successfully draw figures.
$29.99 • T4489
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Drawing Atelier: The Figure Big Book of Drawing Animals

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ISBN: 9781440342851 ISBN: 9781440350719
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The Urban Sketcher Figure Drawing in Proportion

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These and many other North Light products are available at your favorite art & craft
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an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
SUMMER 2017
24
FEATURES
24 Chamber Pieces
32 32
Peri Schwartz's subtle explorations of shape, light and color.
Cases in Ballpoint
The stunning ballpoint artwork of Guno Park, Nicolas V. Sanchez
and Joo Lee Kang.
44 Poussin, Claude and Beyond: French Drawing

in the Grande Siècle
Tracing the evolution of art in 17th-century France.
54 Magic Wand: The Power of the Ballpoint Pen

The pen's do-or-die nature can help liberate your powers of expression.
60 Drawing Fundamentals: Expressions of the Face

We learn the essentials of six widely recognizable facial expressions.
70 Curator's Choice: The Los Angeles County

Museum of Art
A tour of inspiring drawings ranging from Mannerist Italy to 1960s America.
DR AW INGM A G A Z INE .C OM
60
COLUMNS ON THE COVER
14 Material World 14 Finding the Right Pen for You
Ballpoint Basics
20 Make a Pen From Scratch
20 First Marks
How to Make a Pen From Scratch 24 Drawing Interiors
80 New & Notable 32 Full-Color Portraits

Ben Sack
44 Masterpieces of Classical
France
DEPARTMENTS 60 Capturing Facial Expressions
4 Editor’s Note 70 Cézanne, Van Gogh and More

80 Imaginary Cities in
5 Contributors Pen-and-Ink
6 Frontispiece
8 Sketchbook
COVER IMAGE
Ape (detail)
by Guno Park, 2014, ballpoint pen, 65 x 45.
Private collection.
20
Copyright © 2017 by F+W Media, Inc., all rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole
or in part without the consent of the copyright owner, F+W Media, Inc. Drawing (ISSN 2161-5373 (print), ISSN 2330-0949
(online) USPS 001-780 Issue #54) is published quarterly by F+W Media, Inc. $9.99 a copy U.S.A. and $11.99 a copy Canada.
Yearly subscriptions in U.S.A and Possessions: $23.95; in Canada: $27.95; and in all other countries: $30.95. Payment in
US funds only. Periodicals postage paid at Fort Collins, CO, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to: Drawing, P.O. Box 433289, Palm Coast, FL 32143. Subscriber Services: U.S. and Canada (866) 917-3888, Interna-
tional (386) 246-0105, E-mail drawing@emailcustomerservice.com.
DR AW INGM A G A Z INE .C OM Drawing / Summer 2017 3

EDITOR’S Drawing
NOTE
VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 54
SENIOR EDITOR
Austin R. Williams
EDITORS
Holly Davis
McKenzie Graham
Anne Hevener
Jennifer Smith
Belle of the Ballpoint Beth Williams

Michael Woodson
O
CONTENT STRATEGIST
ne of the many joys drawing offers is the chance to work with
Michael Gormley
materials that have been around for a long, long time. Graphite,
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
for instance, has been used by artists for centuries, and it pales
Dean Abatemarco
in comparison to charcoal, which has been used for millennia. In this
ONLINE EDITOR
issue, however, we celebrate a medium that is much younger—and that
Courtney Jordan
is associated less with art than with writing. ADVERTISING SALES TEAM LEADER
It wasn’t until after World War II that the ballpoint pen began to FINE ART DIVISION
be produced in a form similar to what we use today. Artists have Mary McLane (970) 290-6065
adopted it somewhat gradually, but ballpoint art is now flourishing, mary.mclane@fwmedia.com
and we explore the work of three artists who use ballpoint to produce ADVERTISING SPECIALIST
very different but equally stunning work: Joo Lee Kang, Guno Park Carol Lake (385) 414-1439
carol.lake@fwmedia.com
and Nicolas V. Sanchez (page 32). Sherry Camhy introduces us to the
most common varieties of ballpoint pens (page 14), and Jason Franz MEDIA SALES COORDINATOR
Barb Prill (800) 726-9966 ext. 13435
discusses how his use of ballpoint evolved to become the bedrock
barb.prill@fwmedia.com
of his figure drawing (page 54). Margaret Davidson looks at another
form of ink drawing, explaining how to make your own stick pens
(page 20).
Elsewhere, we talk with Peri Schwartz, who finds endless inspiration
in her own studio (page 24). John A. Parks takes us on a grand tour
of drawings from the French classical age, featuring such masters as F+W, A Content + eCommerce Company
Poussin, Claude and Le Brun (page 44). In our “Drawing Fundamentals” CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Thomas F.X. Beusse
series, Jon deMartin offers advice for drawing common facial CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Debra Delman
expressions (page 60). To close things out, we’re treated to highlights CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Joe Seibert
from the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (page 70). CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Joe Romello
And that’s all she drew. I wish you the best of luck with your art CHIEF CONTENT STRATEGIST Steve Madden
in these remaining summer months and beyond. Keep drawing, SVP, GENERAL MANAGER—F+W FINE ART,
WRITING AND DESIGN GROUPS David Pyle
keep learning and follow that pen (or pencil, or charcoal, or chalk, or
VP, HUMAN RESOURCES Gigi Healy
silverpoint) line wherever it takes you.
VP, MANUFACTURING & LOGISTICS Phil Graham
VP, CONSUMER MARKETING John Phelan
FOR NEWSSTAND SALES, CONTACT:

Scott T. Hill scott.hill@procirc.com
AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS
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4 Drawing / Summer 2017 DR AW INGM A G A Z INE .C OM

CONTRIBUTORS
SHERRY C A MH Y (“Material World”) is a faculty member of JON DEM A R T IN (“Drawing Fundamentals”) is the author of
the Art Students League of New York, the School of Visual Drawing Atelier: The Figure. He teaches at schools including
Arts and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Studio Incamminati and Grand Central Atelier, and he also
She is the author of Art of the Pencil: A Revolutionary Look at teaches workshops at locations across the country. To view his
Drawing, Painting and the Pencil. For more information, visit work and to learn about upcoming workshops and classes, visit
sherrycamhy.com. jondemartin.net.
M A RG A R E T D AV ID S ON (“First Marks”) is an artist, illustrator JOHN A . PA R KS (“Poussin, Claude and Beyond”) is an artist
and former teacher at the Gage Academy of Art, in Seattle. represented by 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel. He is also a
She is the author of Contemporary Drawing: Key Concepts and teacher at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, and
Techniques. For more information, visit margaretdavidson.com. a frequent contributor to Drawing, as well as the author of
Universal Principles of Art. View his work at johnaparks.com.
JA SON FR A N Z (“Magic Wand: The Power of the Ballpoint Pen”)
is a Cincinnati-based artist, educator, curator and founding A U S T IN R . W IL L I A M S (“Sketchbook,” “Chamber Pieces,”
director of the nonprofit arts organization Manifest Creative “Cases in Ballpoint,” “Curator’s Choice” and “New and
Research Gallery and Drawing Center. He has taught at the Art Notable”) is the senior editor of Drawing.
Academy of Cincinnati, Xavier University and the University
of Cincinnati in the fields of both art and design. For more
information, visit jasonfranz.com.
FRONTISPIECE
Cottage Near
the Entrance
to a Wood
by Rembrandt
van Rijn
1644, pen-and-ink and brown
wash, corrected in white
with touches of red chalk,
11 3/4 x 17 5/16 . Collection The
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, New York.
Much of this issue explores

drawings created in ink,
so let’s start with a great
example of this tradition.
Here we see the largest
surviving landscape drawing
by Rembrandt, created near
the height of his career.
As in many of the artist’s
landscapes, a rustic cottage
features prominently. At its
door we find a lone, stooping
figure. Rembrandt indicates
the architecture and the
surrounding earth and
foliage through his signature
fluid pen line, applying it
very lightly in places. He
supplements his line with
abundant washes, ranging
in tone from light to deep
brown.

The Book on Ballpoint
who appreciate both its formal quali- ABOVE
BALLPOINT ART ties and its conceptual implications,” Two pages from Ballpoint Art, showing
the 2014 drawing Untitled by Thomas
by Trent Morse writes Morse, who has contributed Müller.
Laurence King Publishing articles to ARTnews and Art+Auction,
176 pages among other publications. “Such cre-
$24.95 ators mention the layering capability
of ballpoint ink, its thick consistency,
Artists have experimented with ball- its sheen, its everydayness and its
point pens since almost the moment reluctance to be erased as reasons to
they hit the market, but as Trent love the medium.”
Morse’s book Ballpoint Art reveals, in Morse begins the book by present-
recent years the practice of ballpoint ing a “condensed history” of ballpoint
drawing has flourished around the artwork, including early ballpoint
world. Call it what you will—a surge, drawings by such major 20th-century
an awakening, a renaissance—ballpoint artists as Lucio Fontana, Alberto
pens are coming into their own as a Giacometti, Cy Twombly and Andy
tool for making art. Warhol. The bulk of Ballpoint Art is
“The lowly ballpoint has become then given to short chapters devoted
an important tool for a range of artists to some 30 contemporary artists, a

mixture of established and emerging talents.
A significant number of the artists included can be
considered “outsider artists” in one sense or another.
“The ballpoint’s wide availability has made it a go-to tool
for outsider artists—from the intense layering of Kentuck-
ian Beverly Baker to the masklike faces of Iranian-born
Mehrdad Rashidi,” Morse writes. “There are so many
talented outsider ballpointists, in fact, that this book could
have been devoted entirely to them.”
Among the American artists included are Dawn
Clements and Butt Johnson—whose names will be
familiar to loyal readers of Drawing—as well as Bill Adams,
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South Carolina
Silhouettes
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 10
Greenville County Museum of Art
Greenville, South Carolina
(864) 271-7570
gcma.org
A native of the South Carolina Lowcountry, Carew Rice

(1899–1971) discovered the art of cutting silhouettes
when he was a student in Tennessee and pursued the
practice from the Depression era until 1970. His work
can currently be seen in the exhibition “Carew Rice” at
the Greenville County Museum of Art, in Greenville,
South Carolina, through September 10.
“Rice subtly challenged viewers with reductive
renditions of Old South nostalgia,” the museum writes
in a statement. “His cautionary tales were grounded in
conservative values, but he liberally embraced the field
hands, chain gangs and working-class lifestyles of mar-
ginalized minorities.” Rice became known as a portraitist,
creating cut-paper portraits of politicians and members
of European royalty, in addition to ordinary men and
women. Other subjects include Lowcountry landscapes,
architecture and wildlife.
Carew Rice (1899–1971).
ABOVE RIG HT
Uncle Gabriel Lance, Sandy Island, South Carolina
by Carew Rice, 1936, hand-cut paper.
RIG HT
Gate of the Swords, Charleston, South Carolina
by Carew Rice, 1933, hand-cut paper.

The Birth of
Pastel
THROUGH DECEMBER 17
The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, California
(310) 440-7330
getty.edu
Artists since the Renaissance have worked with dry

colored media—natural chalks or fabricated versions
consisting of powdered pigment and a binder. In the 18th
century, pastels became extremely popular, especially for
portraiture. Sold in countless colors, these sticks offered
a promising new alternative to oil paints. They enabled
artists to work quickly and spontaneously, with refined
results.
“The Birth of Pastel,” an exhibition on view at the
Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, provides a look into the
origins and evolution of the medium. Among the artists
included are Rosalba Carriera, Maurice-Quentin de La
Tour, Simon Vouet and Charles Le Brun. (You can learn
A Muse
more about the careers of Vouet and Le Brun later in this by Rosalba Carriera, mid-1720s, pastel on blue laid paper, 12 3⁄16 x 10¼. Collec-
issue, beginning on page 44.) tion J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California.
Become a
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Entries: September 15
IMPORTANT to November 15, 2017
PAINTER Enter Explore This! 14, the juried

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Drawing
Instruction
from
Mau Kun Yim
& Iris Yim
K Yu Qing by Mau Kun Yim, from Lessons in Masterful Portrait Drawing
Lessons in Masterful Portrait Drawing

By Mau Kun Yim and Iris Yim
ISBN: 9781440349768
Mau-Kun Yim learned to draw as the Old Masters did and stresses
to students that to render the essence of life in portrait drawing,
one must continue to pursue the old ways. It’s a unique philosophy
and methodology in today’s world and relies on a holistic approach
of observation, analysis and critical-thinking honed through time
and patience.
$29.99 • R3417
Available at your favorite bookseller. To learn more about the full range of
ArtistsNetwork products, including North Light books, visit ArtistsNetwork.com.
Unleash Your Full Potential
Keys to Drawing with Imagination

By Bert Dodson
ISBN: 9781440350733
This ten-year edition of Keys to Drawing with

Imagination is a course for artists in how to take Perspective for the Absolute Beginner
something, do something to it and make something By Mark and Mary Willenbrink
new. In every section, Bert Dodson offers you basic ISBN: 9781440343681
guidelines that help you channel your creative ener-
gies in the right direction. Before you know it, you’ll Perspective is arguably the most important element
lose yourself in the process, enjoying the experience of drawing and also one of the most difficult to
as you create something gratifying and worthwhile. master. It’s what gives drawings dimension and is the
$24.99 • R4441 key to realistic drawing. Now the best-selling authors
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$22.99 • S3149
These and many other North Light products are available at your favorite art & craft
retailer or bookstore. You can also order online at NorthLightShop.com or by phone
at 1-800-258-0929. Online prices may differ on listed titles; prices are as marked on
store pages in the North Light Shop.
an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
MATERIAL WORLD Getting the most out of drawing media
BY SHERRY CAMHY
Ballpoint Basics
B
allpoint pens may have been
invented for writing, but why
not draw with them? These
days, more and more art-
ists are deciding to do so.
Ballpoint is a fairly young medium,
dating back only to the 1880s, when
John J. Loud, an American tanner,
patented a crude pen with a rotat-
ing ball at its tip that could make
marks only on rough surfaces such
as leather. Some 50 years later László
Bíró, a Hungarian journalist, improved
Loud’s invention using quick-drying
newspaper ink and a better ball at
its tip. When held perpendicular to
its surface, Bíró’s pen could write
smoothly on paper. In the 1950s the
Frenchman Baron Marcel Bich pur-
chased Bíró’s patent and devised a
leak-proof capillary tube to hold the
ink, and the Bic Cristal pen was born.
It was durable and could write when
held at any angle, even upside down.
Although the ballpoint pen’s consis-
tently even line was at first denounced
as heralding the death of beautiful
handwriting, the neat and inexpen-
sive pens quickly became ubiquitous,
replacing more expensive and inflex-
ible fountain pens. The hexagonal,
transparent Bic Cristal was considered
such a remarkably designed product
that one is held in the collection of The
Museum of Modern Art, in New York.
BALLPOINT IN ART
Ballpoint drawings are all about line
and what an artist can create with it. In
the 1970s the critic Walter Koschatzky
JH
dismissed the possibility that ballpoint ballpoint pen always exhibit a dead- by Janet Cook, 2016, pink and purple ballpoint pen
had any potential for serious artists ness of line.” Artists, however, already with acrylic wash, 11 x 9.
on precisely this basis. “Pressing the had begun to prove Koschatzky wrong,
point of the pen down produces no with such prominent figures as Alberto
change in the thickness of the line,” Giacometti, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol
he wrote. “[Therefore] its use in art is and Cy Twombly adopting ballpoint
virtually nil. Drawings done with a for various manners of drawing.

Israel Sketch
From Bus
by Angela Barbalace,
2017, ballpoint pen with
watercolor wash, 3 x 10.
Odyssey’s Cyclops
by Charles Winthrop
Norton, 2014, ballpoint
pen, 19½ x 16.
Ballpoint pens offer some serious

advantages to artists who work with
them. To start, many artists and collec-
tors disagree entirely with Koschatzky’s
disparaging view of ballpoint’s line,
finding the consistent width and tone
of ballpoint lines to be aesthetically
pleasing. Ballpoint drawings can be
composed of dense dashes, slow con-
tour lines, crosshatches or rambling
scribbles. Placing marks adjacent to one
another can create carefully modu-
lated areas of tone. And if you desire
some variation in line width, you can
in fact achieve it, either by adjusting
the pressure you apply to the pen or by
simply switching between several pens
of different thickness. Some are less
than half a millimeter wide and can
be used for the most delicate details.
Among ballpoint’s other virtues:
They never need to be sharpened;
they’re lightweight, nontoxic and
odorless; and many modern ball-
points are archival. Ballpoint pens
glide quicker than most other draw-
ing media, making them perfect for
quick sketches. They move smoothly
in all directions and can change
direction abruptly. They can be used
on many surfaces other than paper,
including gesso panels and illustra-
tion boards. The contemporary artist
Jack Dillhunt is known for drawing
with ballpoint on bedsheets.
Black and blue may be the most optical combinations. Working on artists this can be daunting but also
common, but ballpoints come in colored surfaces adds even more quite rewarding. “Mistakes” can be
countless tempting colors. Further possibilities in this regard. left alone or corrected by incorpo-
colors can be made by using a cross- Although erasable ballpoints exist, rating them into an image with a
hatching technique, layering varying most pens aren’t erasable. Once a darker value or another color, expos-
values and colors to create subtle line is made, it’s permanent, and for ing the artist’s creative process.

MATERIAL WORLD
BALLPOINT PEN VARIE TIES ABOVE

Ballpoint pens in
20 colors.
Ballpoints range from inexpensive disposable pens to more All photos of
materials in this
expensive refillable models and high-end collectible pens. article by Sherry
Some artists simply buy refills and use them without any Camhy.
holders at all. Ballpoint pens can be capped or retractable,

single-colored or multicolored. Some include a stylus tip LE F T
compatible with touchscreens on smartphones and tablets. Bic Cristal

ballpoint pen;
There are so many ballpoint pens available that choos- dual-purpose
ing among them can be perplexing, and to muddy things Stylus pen with
touchscreen-
further, the nomenclature is confusing. We can group the compatible
pens into three main categories. Pens in the first category rubber tip;
retractable
are usually simply called “ballpoint pens,” but to distin- ballpoint pen
guish them from the other varieties, here we’ll call them and refill.
standard ballpoint pens. The second category is rollerball
pens, and the third is gel pens. These three varieties have
basic mechanical qualities in common, but each differs in
certain characteristics and uses a different kind of ink.
STANDARD BALLPOINT PENS

Standard ballpoint pens are filled with ink that’s viscous,
oil-based, permanent and quick-drying. It’s designed not
to smear or bleed. Altering pressure on the point creates a
slight variation of values. Filling an area solidly with stan-
dard-ballpoint ink creates a uniquely leather-like texture.

The ink supply in standard ball-
points tends to last longer than those
of rollerball and gel pens. Because
the ink in standard ballpoints is
permanent and quick-drying,
watercolor and ink washes can be
added easily to these drawings with-
out losing the original marks.
ROLLERBALL PENS
Rollerball pens have water-soluble liq-
uid ink similar to that used in fountain
pens, but unlike fountain pens the ink
is held in a self-contained compart-
Ballpoint pen with retractable points in four colors.
ment that is in contact with a rolling
ball at the tip. Rollerball ink dries
slower and is more likely to bleed and ink is so fluid that a momentary pause GEL PENS
smear than standard ballpoint ink. can cause it to puddle. This can cause Gel pens contain a pigmented
Rollerball allows for more variation disaster, although with practice the fusion of oil- and water-based gels
in line width than standard ballpoint. problem can be turned into an advan- that doesn’t often bleed or fade. Gel
Slow strokes can make thicker lines, tage, with artists using these puddles pens generally are associated with
especially on soft, spongy surfaces. The deliberately to add dark accents. writing, illustration, scrapbook and
craft projects, but they can be used in fine art as well.
Gel pens require a steadier, more controlled pressure
than standard ballpoints, but some are capable of more
calligraphic strokes. Thinner lines dry faster than wide
ones and are less likely to smear. Gels come in many
colors, ranging from intense opaque pigments to fluores-
cent, metallic and glittery colors, many of which stand out
boldly on dark surfaces. Note that a gel pen’s ink supply
can harden if a pen isn’t properly capped or retracted.
B
allpoint has something to offer many artists. Those
who incline toward careful observation may thrive on
the intense concentration it demands if accuracy is the
goal. Artists who revel in the feeling of freedom may enjoy
the playful sense of having nothing to lose that ballpoint
can grant. However you use them, you’ll find ballpoint
pens have a quality of line not obtainable from any other
medium. Y
Untitled No. 50
by Joanne Greenbaum, 2014, ballpoint pen, 11½ x 8½.
Enter in up to 8 categories Showcase your work

for your chance to shine: and win big!
tAcrylic Grand Prize: $1,000
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1992 (colored pencil on paper) by Tanja Gant, Two Cats, On a Cold Day (pastel on paper) by Yael Maimon, Arabesque (digital) by Nikolai Aleksander, NOLA Beetle (watercolor on paper) by Matthew Bird
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FIRST MARKS Introductory lessons in drawing
B Y M A R G A R E T D AV I D S O N
How to Make a Pen

From Scratch
Street in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Three finished pens. The two on

by Vincent van Gogh, ca. 1888, reed pen, quill and ink over chalk on wove paper, 9 9/16 x 12½. Collection The the outside are forsythia; the one
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. in the middle is bamboo.
Pen-and-ink drawing is one of the with a pen you made from scratch. In aree about as big around
world’s oldest art forms. Ink drawings this article we’ll learn how to make a as my ring finger, with a
were produced in ancient Egypt, ancient pen from a stick using simple tools. llow core about 1⁄8" in
hollow
China and the Maya civilization. In You can use a very similar method diameter. I cut the sticks
medieval Europe they formed parts of to make a pen from a hollow reed, off near the ground with pruners, and
illuminated manuscripts. This man- but wild reeds don’t grow too read- then trim them to the desired length
ner of drawing has continued without ily near my home in the Northwest, when I get back to the studio.
pause to the present day. so I use materials I can find easily. Forsythia is a common ornamental
For many centuries artists made shrub here, although only some vari-
their own pens from materials such eties have cores hollow enough to be
as bird feathers and reeds. In the 19th CHOOSING A STICK useful. I usually cut several stems to
century steel-nib pens were intro- There are two main considerations see if I can find what I need. Forsythia
duced, and they quickly came to domi- when looking for a stick to turn into isn’t as hard as bamboo, so it’s easier
nate the market, causing artists to a pen: It needs a hollow shaft, and it to cut and shape, and you can work
buy pens rather than make them. But must be soft enough to cut with a knife. it into a pen weeks after you’ve cut it.
it’s still possible to make your own Reed has these qualities, as do forsythia Its point wears out faster, however,
pens—making pens from sticks is and bamboo, which grow in more and needs to be reshaped more often.
especially easy—and there’s something northerly climates. When harvesting I Bamboo is nice and hollow, and
splendid and satisfying about drawing look for bamboo or forsythia sticks that it’s a wonderful material to draw

Materials for making a stick pen. From left to right:
pruners, knife, mat knife, scissors and a piece of
a pop can. If you don’t have a knife like the one
pictured here, you can try to use your mat knife for
carving; it should work as long as your sticks are
fresh. Do not use an X-Acto knife or a mat knife that
has a snap-blade, which can break and cut you.
with. It can get very hard to cut as it

ages, so use younger branches that
are still green if you can find them.
Bamboo also hardens very quickly
after being cut, so carve your pens
right after you collect your sticks.
MAKING THE PEN

TOOLS
To make your pen, in addition to the
stick itself you will need:
• pruners
• a knife (you can use a jackknife,
although I find it easier and safer
to work with a blade that isn’t
inclined to fold up in my hand)
• a mat knife
• scissors
• a piece of thin aluminum, for
example a section of a pop can
STEP 1
Make sure the hollow core in your cut
branch is about 1⁄8" in diameter. Trim
the stick to your desired length.
STEP 2
Using the pruners, cut one end off at
an angle.
STEP 3
Using either knife, shave the angle to
the drawing tip that you want—either
a blunt end or a pointed one. This also
thins the wood slightly. If you’re using
forsythia, you may want to shave the
bark away from the end, as well.
The best tool for splitting a stick’s tip and the tip f lush with the edge of the
STEP 4 is a straight blade. A mat knife works table. Push straight down with the
Pens need a split tip, which causes perfectly. mat knife to cut a straight slit in the
the tip to spread when pressed down, Lay your stick on a table with the middle of the tip. Try to split the tip
allowing the ink to flow smoothly. longer, pointed side at the bottom right in the middle. This can be tricky,

FIRST MARKS
and if you don’t get it quite right, you can further trim gushing blobs at the beginning of every stroke.
the tip with your knife until the split falls in the middle. With your scissors, cut a strip from the pop
can that’s narrow enough to fit into the hollow
STEP 5 core of your stick. This should be at least 1" long
Next, you need to make an ink regulator—a tiny but tre- but can be longer. Bend this strip into a “J” shape
mendously important component that will regulate the by running the strip between your thumb and in-
ink flow, enabling your pen to lay down even lines without dex finger as you do with curling ribbon.
STEP 6
Insert the regulator into the hollow core of the stick in such
a way that the curved part is inside the pen and the top of
the J rests against the pen tip but doesn’t stick up beyond
it. Once the regulator is in place, you’re ready to draw. Dip
your pen in a jar of ink, grab a pad of drawing or watercolor
paper, and get to work. When the point of your pen starts to
wear out, soften or split, simply cut the soft part away and
shape a new tip on the same stick.
DRAWING WITH STICK PENS

You’ll quickly find that different types of pens have their
own personalities and produce different kinds of lines. A
stick pen lets you be freer than any steel-nib or quill pen
can, as the stick will move in any direction without snag-
ging and will curve and zigzag and stop on a dime. Stick
NOTE:
I drew the illustra-
tions for the above
sequence of steps
using a pen with
a metal nib. Look
closely and you can
see how the line
produced by a steel-
nib pen differs from
the line produced
by a stick pen, as
seen in my drawings
Basket and Boots.
Basket
2017, pen-and-ink, 10 x 13.
For this drawing I used a stick
pen and black Chinese ink
on rag paper. Note the heavy
lines of the drawing—stick
pens dish out more ink per
stroke than steel-nib or quill
pens do. I recommend using
thick, heavy paper for draw-
ing with pen-and-ink, which
can absorb all the liquid of
the ink without warping.

Drawing by Adam Vinson
Boots
2002, pen-and-ink, 15 x 11.
This drawing was done with a stick pen and brown peat-based ink on 300-lb
watercolor paper. The rough texture of the paper interacted with the pen to
make broken, interrupted marks that add a sketchy quality to the drawing.
pens make broader and heavier marks than do pens with

steel nibs, even when the tip is carved to a fine point. This
kind of mark has its own joy—strong, rough and eager to
be seen. The contrast is high and vivid, and when the pen
runs low of ink you get wonderful broken, scruffy strokes.
Stick pens are excellent for landscape drawing, as
you can see in Van Gogh’s Street in Saintes-Maries-
de-la-Mer (page 20). For still life drawing I find they
work best on things that aren’t delicate. I probably
wouldn’t draw a lace doily with a stick pen, but heavi-
er cloth and wooden objects work out just fine.
You can use almost any ink with a stick pen. Some of
my favorites are Pelikan black drawing ink and Pro Art GRAPHIC
India ink. I mix my own brown ink from dried peat-based
crystals that I buy from the Paper & Ink Arts website, Great pencil drawings start with a great graphite pencil.
e
but any ink you buy in the art store will work just fine.
Derwent Graphic pencils offer a wide choice of degrees from the
Enough talk from me—start carving! Summer is an popular HB pencil, to the fine and crisp 9H and soft smudgy 9B.
excellent time to make a handful of pens and then draw Whether you're doing fine detailed illustrations or adding shading
with them all year. Y and texture to your drawing, Derwent has the right pencil for you.
www.DerwentArt.com
CHAMBER
pieces
For Peri Schwartz the studio is a stage where she can
arrange furniture and other ordinary objects to form
subtle explorations of shape, light and color.
INTERVIEW BY AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS
T
he drawings and paintings of Peri Schwartz reveal a
mind intensely engaged with questions of compo-
sition and representation. In her studio scenes and
still lifes, the artist plays shapes off one another to cre-
ate a sort of quiet visual tension. She works exclusively
from life, meticulously matching her setup to her vision
for an image, even if it means repainting parts of her
studio. Drawing recently spoke with the artist about her
process, her inspirations and the importance of taking
the time to create unhurried, carefully considered work.
DRAWING: Hello Peri. Let’s begin by talking about the

relationship between drawing and painting in your
art. Are most of your drawings related to a specific
painting?
PERI SCHWARTZ: In the studio series, which I began 15
years ago, a drawing would start as a study for a painting.
It was the most direct way for me to get the composition
down and figure out what size canvas I needed. Inevita-
bly, I became more involved with the drawing, loving the
darks and lights, erasing and moving objects as the work
developed. The drawing took on a life of its own, and it
Studio No. 23
was no longer just a study for the painting. I’ve continued
2017, charcoal and Conté, 53 x 40.
this practice and can spend weeks working on a drawing. Courtesy Gallery NAGA, Boston, Massachusetts.

Studio XLIV
2017, oil on canvas, 48 x 38.
Courtesy Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.

DR: Where is your studio? What
about it inspires you to make it
such a central part of your work?
PS: My studio is in an office building
in downtown New Rochelle, New
York, where many of the tenants are
lawyers and accountants. It’s a corner
office on the 10th floor with beautiful
light and expansive views. When I first
moved in I was working on still lifes
and self-portraits. After completing
a series of abstract self-portraits I
wanted to return to something more
realistic. That was when I started
drawing books and seeing my studio
as a subject. What I like about the
studio is that there are certain things I
physically can’t change, like the place-
ment of the window. Then there are all
the things I can change: the wall color,
the size of the tabletop, the books.
I don’t think what I’m doing now
fits into the category of studio paint-
ings done by artists like Giacometti or
Matisse. My setups are more like very
large still lifes or stage sets that I work
from—I’m making the studio look a
certain way; I’m painting the boards;
I’m adjusting the size of the table. The
objects on the surfaces aren’t just the
objects that happen to be in my studio
but things I’ve selected because they
work for the composition.
DR: Your drawings may show your

studio or a row of mason jars, but
to me they seem in a sense to be
more about things like perception,
space and light. What formal
elements are you most interested DR: Tell me about the books. How Seated Self-Portrait
in exploring? did they become such prominent 2001, charcoal, 41 x 30.
Courtesy Gallery NAGA,
PS: Color, light and composition are players in your images? Boston, Massachusetts.
the most important elements in my PS: After posing for many self-portraits,
work. I want to create a real space that I felt I had exhausted myself as a
works as a two-dimensional composi- subject. In searching for a new idea, I
tion. In the studio paintings the fore- noticed art books haphazardly piled on
ground books are large abstract shapes my work stools. I began to draw them
that wouldn’t make spatial sense if and realized this subject excited me. I
they weren’t connected to other objects loved the abstract shapes they made,
in the studio. In the Bottles & Jars series and although I didn’t identify the
I want the bottles to have both weight artists’ names on the books, the fact
and luminosity. that the books were about artists I had
studied was meaningful to me.

DR: You mix the colored liquids space. It often takes me several tries to
in the glasses to produce your get the angles right.
desired color, correct? If you want
a warmer red in a certain bottle DR: Walk me through the course
in your painting, you’ll mix a of a typical drawing. How does
warmer-red liquid to put in the the initial idea take shape, and
real bottle? what are your first marks on the
PS: Yes. Initially I was using differ- surface?
ent bottles of oil that were around PS: It takes several days to arrange
the studio. When I began adding the setup. Once I have things some-
more bottles, I moved on to red-wine what in place, I draw a pencil line in
vinegar and Windex, often diluting the the middle of the paper. I’ll proceed
color until I found what I wanted. And to find the midpoint in the setup and
for about a year now I’ve shifted my draw a charcoal line on the wall. The
Studio XII
palette to cooler colors made from liq- line on the wall will be moved an 2006, oil on canvas, 54 x 42.
uid soaps, and I often mix two liquids inch or so to the left or right many Private collection.
to get what I want.
DR: Traces of a grid are visible in

many of your images, for instance
the drawing Studio No. 13 [page
31] and the painting Studio XII
[at right]. What role do these grids
play in the creation of your work?
PS: The grid has become so integral to
my work that I can’t imagine working
without it. When I was in art school at
Boston University [BU] we were taught
to hold up a straight edge vertically and
horizontally to line things up. It was
also a way to measure the verticals in
relation to the horizontals. I became
obsessed with this way of drawing, and
the grid lines are really an extension of
my measuring.
I don’t just draw a grid on either
the wall or my drawing. I look,
measure, draw, look again, measure
again, move something and then draw,
so none of the lines are done uni-
formly. They develop as the drawing
develops.
DR: So you actually paint grid

lines onto the books and tables in
your studio?
PS: Yes, although the grid lines on the
setup aren’t paint—I’ll use black tape or
charcoal. And the grid only works from
the one position where I’m sitting. The
lines on the books have to connect to
the table and the wall. The vertical lines
are actually diagonals going back into

Studio VI
2011, charcoal, 55 x 35. Private collection.

Studio XXX
2011, oil on canvas, 48 x 38. Courtesy
Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.
times as the drawing develops, but the

pencil line in my drawing stays in the
middle.
Once I’m feeling confident that I
have found the midpoint, I will draw
soft tones in with willow charcoal.
It’s important that I begin with soft
marks that can be easily removed with
a kneaded eraser. I know from experi-
ence that once I’ve made a darker line,
it’s much harder to erase. I’ll continue
making compositional decisions, mov-
ing the books or bottles around until
I’m happy. I draw something, erase it,
move it and draw it again. This leaves
quite a lot of tone on the drawing.
Once I’m feeling confident, I go into
the drawing with compressed charcoal
and Conté crayon. The truth is I end up
wanting to erase the darker lines, too.
Sometimes, when even a plastic eraser
doesn’t work, I’ll use white pastel.
For the last few years I’ve been
drawing on Mylar, and I’ve become
very attached to that as a surface. It DR: Is Diebenkorn a favorite
seems to erase better than paper, and of yours?
some of the blacks can get very velvety. PS: Definitely. He was an amazing
draftsman and did exquisite drawings
DR: You often paint over areas in from life. My favorite period is his
your paintings, and you once said, Berkeley years, when he had returned
“A lot of my painting is about to figurative work but was pushing the
what’s underneath.” Is a similar abstraction. In the paintings, these
effect at work in your drawings? large fields of color and sense of space
PS: I do think that shows up in the are most exciting to me.
drawings, too. In a painting, I may
start with a red shape, then two days DR: With all the bottles and
later change it to orange. Some of that jars, your work brings Giorgio
red will creep through into the orange, Morandi’s still lifes to mind. Do
and it will look beautiful. This also you think your work is in dialogue
happens when I’m drawing and the with his in some way?
history of how I moved things around PS: I love the relationships of the
comes through. objects in Morandi’s still lifes. Like
Many of the paintings I love most are Diebenkorn, he pushed the abstrac-
ones where I feel this kind of struggle tion in his figurative work. The Self-Portrait
and see how the artist kept changing personality of every object Morandi 2003, charcoal, 23 x 16.
Collection Arkansas Arts Center,
things. Take Richard Diebenkorn. Over painted and how they relate to each Little Rock, Arkansas.
and again in his work you’ll see places other feels like a metaphor for family
where a color shows through from relationships. That thought occurs
underneath and he had the presence of to me as I arrange and rearrange the
mind to leave it. simple bottles and jars I use.

DR: I know you’re a fan of classical
music. Does that inform your art
at all?
PS: Yes. I go to chamber music
concerts regularly and see many
commonalities between what those
musicians do and my work. A theme
is picked up in one instrument
and then handed over to another; a
silence is like a negative shape, as
important as a sound or a color.
DR: When you teach drawing, is

there any advice you constantly
find yourself giving to student
after student?
PS: I think students expect results
too quickly. I try to slow them down
TO P
and make them think about where Degas, Cézanne and Matisse. Looking Bottles & Jars No. 6
their subject is going to sit on the at a painting is not the same as getting 2012, watercolor, 15 x 22. Private collection.
page. Going back to my days at BU, out your sketchbook in a museum and
I encourage my students to hold up drawing from it. It slows down the ABOVE
a ruler and line up the verticals and process and makes you much more Bottles & Jars IV
horizontals. By going slower, there are aware of the brushstrokes, the com- 2012, charcoal on Mylar, 20 x 30. Courtesy Gallery
NAGA, Boston, Massachusetts.
more opportunities to discover rela- position and the color. Copying was
tionships they hadn’t seen initially. an important part of my development,
I also recommend doing studies and I would recommend that any artist
from paintings by artists like Vermeer, do it throughout their life.

Studio No. 13
2012, Conté crayon and ink wash
on Mylar, 38½ x 28½. Private collection.
DR: What recommendations would you make to aspiring artists from a

career perspective? ABOUTTHEARTIST
PS: You have to be very hardened to rejection, because you’re going to get reject- Peri Schwartz’s work is found in
ed a lot. And I think you do have to be willing to sell yourself. There is somebody numerous private and public collec-
out there who is going to like your work, and you have to find that person and tions, including those of The Metro-
connect with them. They’re not going to find you. politan Museum of Art, in New York;
That process can also inform you. You might come across somebody—a the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
and the Portland Art Museum, in
dealer, a curator, a friend—who will point out something you haven’t noticed in Oregon. The artist lives and works in
your own work. It could be good or bad. But it’s important to just get out there New Rochelle, New York. For more
and get feedback. Y information, visit perischwartz.com.

Cases in
BALLPOINT
Guno Park, Nicolas V. Sanchez and Joo Lee Kang discuss
how they create their stunning artwork using ballpoint pens.
BY AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS
Bloody Angle
by Guno Park, 2014,
ballpoint pen, 17 x 22.
Private collection.
Cover art for the album Doyers
by the band Live Footage.

ABOVE LE F T
Underwater Plants
GUNO PARK by Guno Park, 2015,
ballpoint pen, 21 x 21.
Private collection.
In most of his drawings, Guno Park takes a monochromatic approach, ABOVE RIG HT
working in one of the “traditional” ballpoint colors of black, blue Ape
or red. His varied subjects include portraits of passengers sleep- by Guno Park, 2014,
ing on public transit, dramatic depictions of animals and detail- ballpoint pen, 65 x 45.
Private collection.
packed views of city streets. He sets many of his subjects against stark
white backgrounds, causing them seemingly to jump off the page.
Park has been drawing with ballpoint since he was young. “Even as a
kid, before I started drawing more intensely, I was using the pen quite a
bit,” he says. “As I learned more and more, I stuck with it. The pen was al-
ways in my pocket, and it became this very comfortable medium to draw
with. I use other media as well, but I think that the pen creates a type of
tone that no other writing or drawing tool makes. The ink has a sheen and a
glow that I enjoy.” Park notes that no two models of pen are quite the same.
“It’s really interesting to navigate the various types of pens and see how the
consistency and tone of the ink are a little different in each,” he says.
Park acknowledges that the familiarity of ballpoint can be an obsta-
cle. “The pen is just like any tool, but the funny thing about it is that peo-
ple are so familiar with it,” he says. “The challenge comes in separat-
ing yourself from the idea that this is a tool you’ve used to jot down notes
and sign checks. But as I draw, I don’t really think about the pen itself
too much. It’s a refreshing and satisfying feeling not to think about the
tool that I’m using and only think about the image that I’m making.”

Zocalo—Mexico City
by Guno Park, 2014,
ballpoint pen and watercolor,
15 x 37. Private collection.
Park is an inveterate sketcher,

drawing in a sketchbook during his
commute and other spare moments.
For his larger drawings, he works from
a mix of sketches, photos and men-
tal images. “Sometimes I’ll use one
type of reference more than anoth-
er,” he says. “If I’m working under
a deadline I’ll rely more on a photo
reference. If I’m freely drawing for
myself I’ll have the reference there,
but more than anything else I’ll
look at what I’ve drawn and bounce
off what I’ve already put down.”
For the most part he plans his
compositions in his head. “I develop
a kind of stamp of the image in my
mind,” he says. “This gives me a very
good idea of, say, how big the head
should be or where it should be placed
to look satisfying in the composition.
I don’t do any underdrawing; I just
start from one point that I think sig-
nifies an anchor. I draw a few lines
that define that anchor, and the rest
of the drawing sort of drapes and
falls according to those first marks.”
While he’s drawing, Park’s two
most important considerations are
form and light. “I think about form
initially because I have to under-
stand the three-dimensional shape,
which consists of all these different
planes,” he says. “In a way, I draw
that form without thinking about
the light and then add the light to
it; I look at the direction and inten-
sity of the light and wrap that around
the form I’ve created.” Park is care-
ful to note, however, that it’s not sim-
ply a two-step process, with form
coming first and light second. “It
all happens simultaneously,” he

says. “I have to juggle all these things every time I put down a mark
or a patch of hatches. If I don’t, the drawing won’t be believable.”
Park works with a variety of pens. Some of his favorites are
made by Muji, Tombow and Zebra. He generally draws on water-
color paper, which offers a little tooth, but lately has also been
working on printmaking paper. “Printmaking papers are tough-
er and able to take more pressure,” he says. “With them, I’ve
been able to do some very deep, heavily rendered areas.”
To keep his backgrounds pristine, Park keeps a clean piece of
paper between his hand and the drawing. For very large drawings,
he’ll use a mahlstick. “I just keep track of where my hand is and
make sure the ink is dry even before I put the guard paper down,”
he says. “After many failures, it’s become this sharp instinct.”
When asked what advice he would share with aspiring art-
ists, Park stresses the importance of practice. “Just draw more,”
he says. “Students often feel that going to class and drawing for
three hours there is enough, but it’s not. Practicing on a regu-
lar basis is the most important thing any artist can do, even if it’s
15 or 30 minutes a day doodling in a sketchbook. Big projects are
great, and thinking about composition is great, but all that stuff
happens in your brain anyway when you’re doodling. And I think
the best ideas come to you when you’re in the act of creating.”
LE F T MIDDLE RIG HT
MTA Postman MTA Rider MTA Sleeper
by Guno Park, 2015, After the Gym by Guno Park, 2017,
ballpoint pen, 12 x 12. by Guno Park, 2015, ballpoint pen, 11 x 11.
Private collection. ballpoint pen, 12 x 12. Private collection.
Private collection.

NICOL AS V. SANCHE Z
Using ballpoint in an array of colors, Nicolas V. Sanchez crafts strikingly realis-
tic portraits of people and animals. Pen has been the artist’s medium of choice
for as long as he can remember. “I’ve always been drawing and sketching,” he
says. “My dad taught me how to draw when I was very young, and he always
had a pen in his shirt pocket. I didn’t really recognize that as an influence
at the time, but having a pen on hand found its way into my routine. I fig-
ured that sketching was simply the best way to spend my commute through-
out New York City, and now I draw on the train, in taxis, on planes, et cetera.”
Ballpoint eventually became Sanchez’s primary medium for finished
work as well. “It allows me to draw with tone and with a range in value,” he
says. “With ballpoint, I can draw lightly or create heavy lines. That’s very
different from Micron pens, for example, which create only fine lines.”
Much of Sanchez’s practice is devoted to portraiture, with his subjects
ranging from adults to children to pets. Many of these drawings share an
overall look. On warm, cream-toned paper we see a person from the shoul-
Argenis ders up, centered on the page, often in full profile. The subjects wear neu-
by Nicolas V. Sanchez, 2015, tral expressions and look straight ahead. Any clues as to their lives and per-
ballpoint pen on toned paper,
3½ x 5½. Private collection. sonalities are subtle, indicated through posture, clothing or hairstyle.

ABOVE
Midwest Grass
by Nicolas V. Sanchez,
2015, ballpoint pen
on toned paper, 6 x 8.
Private collection.
LE F T
Dizzy
by Nicolas V. Sanchez,
2015, ballpoint pen on
toned paper, 8 x 10.
Private collection.

“There is always something that
inspires me about every profile I
draw, whether it be someone’s hair,
the zigzagging composition of their
posture, the way they look through
their eyes or their awareness of the
moment,” Sanchez says. “And every
drawing allows me to learn as much
about the medium as about the
unique qualities of the person.” The
artist also enjoys the play of historical
contexts at work in these drawings.
Portraiture is one of the most tradi-
tional of genres—so much so that a
tightly rendered portrait drawing can
seem out of place in many corners
of the contemporary art world. As a
further twist, the tool being used is
decidedly modern—something that
wasn’t available even 100 years ago.
Sanchez’s portrait drawings
are time-consuming, and the art-
ist works largely from photographs
that he shoots himself. “It’s very
difficult to find people who can sit
for the hours it takes me to draw
them from life,” he says. “My train-
ing from years of life drawing allows
me to work comfortably from photo
references. In the end I use a com-
bination of photos, memory and
what I know about proportions.”
He doesn’t do much in the way
of preliminary sketching or draw-
ing, diving right in to the finished
work. “Every drawing has its own
unique entrance,” he says. “I don’t
start with the same color every time.
I hope the approach to each drawing
can be parallel to the unique soul of
each piece.” Sanchez employs many
pens and colors over the course of
a drawing, generally using a small
TO P ABOVE group of pens for a given area. “I
Magnus A drawing from Sanchez’s
sketchbook.
can draw a nose with a few colors
by Nicolas V. Sanchez, 2016,
ballpoint pen on toned paper, and then draw the eyes with a dif-
5 x 7. Private collection. ferent set of colors,” he says. “Then I
may use just one pen in one color for
something simpler, like the chin.”

The delicately rendered skin and hair tones Sanchez achieves can surprise
viewers who are used to seeing ballpoint used for monochromatic drawings
with tone created primarily through crosshatching. “My approach to skin and
hair with ballpoint is no different from any traditional method for painting
skin and hair with oil or acrylic,” the artist says. “I apply basic color theory and
my knowledge about skin tones to each portrait. Everyone has a unique color
range in their skin, so I try to remain sensitive to the individuality of each per-
son. This keeps me away from step-by-step processes and formulas—which
can be reliable but stale—and makes room for more life in each portrait.”
Sanchez encourages other artists to give ballpoint a try. “Drawing direct-
ly with ballpoint pen, from beginning to end, has developed my draftsman-
ship faster than any other medium,” he says. “It’s best to jump right into
it. Avoid preliminary sketches in pencil. If you’re just starting with the
medium you’ll make a lot of mistakes—it doesn’t matter. Don’t allow the
Marlene permanence of each mark to cause hesitation. Let it give you the sense
by Nicolas V. Sanchez, 2016,
ballpoint pen on toned paper, 5 x 7.
of freedom to continue developing your ideas, imperfections and all.”
Private collection.
JOO LEE K ANG
The drawings of Joo Lee Kang take us
to a strange realm where mutated flo-
ra and fauna run rampant over what
appear to be decaying still life tab-
leaux. Her images feel simultaneously
modern and steeped in art history—in
particular the work of Dutch still life
painters of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Kang says that she’s attracted to
still life in part for how the images
have been used to ref lect the aspi-
rations of people in different cul-
tures and historical periods. “A still
life is often a representation of a
person’s wishes,” she says. “I want
my drawings to have that quality. I
also want them to look realistic at
first, but once you get closer, you
find something else—something
kind of grotesque. You realize it’s
not exactly what was wished for.”
Like many artists who work in ball-
point, Kang adopted the medium in
part for reasons of convenience. She
worked primarily with oil and acryl-
ic paint while in college in Korea and
then graduate school in Boston. But
those materials were hard to trans-
port when she would leave school for
breaks, and Kang began to leave them
behind and reduce her equipment.
She first switched from working on
canvas to paper, then from painting
in oil and acrylic to watercolor. Finally
she switched her focus to drawing,
eventually settling on ballpoint.
“I like ballpoint pen for three rea-
sons,” she says. The first has to do
with ease of access—she can buy
ballpoint pens anywhere and car-
ry them easily. Her second rea-
son relates to crosshatching. “My
inspiration comes from my study
of art history and European paint- TO P ABOVE
ing, so I keep my drawing very tra- Wreath No. 4 Chandelier No. 1

ditional,” she says. “This means I by Joo Lee Kang, 2017, by Joo Lee Kang, 2017,
ballpoint pen, 26 x 26. ballpoint pen, 26 x 33.
use a lot of crosshatching, which Courtesy Gallery NAGA, Courtesy Gallery NAGA,
Boston, Massachusetts. Boston, Massachusetts.

is a traditional method—usually it’s used for etching and printmaking. It
means layering lots of very short lines to create the three-dimensional
form. I’ve tried crosshatching with many pencils and pens, and ballpoint
is my ideal. With it, I can create the fullest range of brightness to dark-
ness.” The third thing Kang loves about ballpoint is its lack of erasabili-
ty. “Once I grab my pen, I just go and go and go,” she says. “I want to never
give up or erase, so the pen being non-erasable is very important for me.”
Kang’s process for a drawing begins with a period of research, during which
she collects several types of reference material and visual inspiration, which she
refers to as her “data.” Paintings by historical artists, especially the Dutch mas-
ters, are one source. Images from newspapers, scientific magazines and the in-
ternet are another. She notes that the animals and flowers in her drawings derive
not from imagination but from research into things that exist today in nature.
With her research complete, Kang mentally “reassembles” these mate-
rials into an original composition. She then starts to draw, avoiding any
preliminary sketching. She lets her hand and her eye guide her, describ- Still Life With Insects No. 9
ing her process as “almost like a sort of meditation. And all the drawings by Joo Lee Kang, 2014, ballpoint
pen, 25 x 32. Courtesy Gallery
are different. Sometimes I start and finish right away. Other times I’ll do NAGA, Boston, Massachusetts.

90 percent of a drawing, then leave it
aside—maybe for a few hours, may-
be for a year—and finish it later.”
Kang usually draws with Bic ball-
point pens, which she prefers in part
because they’re available the world
over. “The other brands that are avail-
able in Korea I can’t find when trav-
eling,” she says. But even the classic
Bic pen, it turns out, isn’t exactly the
same everywhere. “In Asia and Europe,
they sell a Bic with a 0.7mm tip,” Kang
says. “But in the U.S., 1.0mm is the
sharpest they sell—everything is big-
ger in the U.S.! That makes a real dif-
ference for me, so now when I travel
from Korea to the U.S., I always car-
ry some 0.7mm pens. One time I was
carrying a suitcase full of them, and
the security guard at the airport was
pretty curious about my occupation.”
For her surface, Kang uses print-
making paper, alternating between
smoother hot-pressed paper and rough-
er cold-pressed paper. She notes that
TO P ABOVE she often prefers smoother paper for
Still Life No. 3 Still Life With Rabbit drawings in black or blue pen and
by Joo Lee Kang, 2015, by Joo Lee Kang, 2017,
ballpoint pen, 32 x 45. ballpoint pen, 15½ x 15½.
rougher paper for drawings in red.
Courtesy Gallery NAGA, Courtesy Gallery NAGA, In addition to her drawings, Kang
Boston, Massachusetts. Boston, Massachusetts.

ABOUTTHEARTISTS
Guno Park was born in Seoul, South Korea, raised in Toronto, Ontario, and
creates three-dimensional paper instal- lives in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at schools including the New York
lations, and currently she’s at work on Academy of Art, where he now teaches drawing. He also teaches at the
an installation relating to the Korean New York Film Academy. For more information, visit gunopark.com.
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). “The DMZ
is a very interesting area for me, since all Nicolas V. Sanchez lives in New York City. He studied at Kendall College
of Art and Design, in Michigan; and the New York Academy of Art. He has
my artwork starts with nature,” she says. been selected for artist residencies in China, the Dominican Republic and
“After the war, people left the DMZ, and Italy. For more information, visit nicolasvsanchez.com.
now it’s home to a third of all Korea’s ani-
mals and plants and half of its endan- Joo Lee Kang received her B.F.A. from Duksung Women’s University, in
gered animals. Doing the research on South Korea, and her M.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at
Tufts University, in Boston. She has participated in numerous solo and group
that has been amazing. With every proj- exhibitions. She’s active in both the United States and Korea and is represent-
ect, I want to push myself further.” Y ed by Gallery NAGA, in Boston. For more information, visit gallerynaga.com.
Chaos No. 10
by Joo Lee Kang, 2015, mixed media.
Installation at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery,
New Orleans, Louisiana, 2015.

The Angel Appearing to St. Joseph in the Carpenter’s Shop, the Virgin Reading Beyond
by Jacques Stella, ca. 1640, pen-and-brown-ink and gray wash over black chalk.
All artwork this article collection The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York.

POUSSIN,
CLAUDE
BEYOND:
AND
French Drawing in the Grande Siècle
E
Over the course of the arly in the 17th century, two young French artists of humble origins
made their separate ways to Rome. Both would immerse them-
17th century, France selves in Italian art, and both would eventually become artistic
evolved from an giants whose work would influence painters for centuries to come.
artistic backwater to Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) and Claude Lorrain (ca. 1600–1682)
an epicenter of refined knew each other in Rome, where they were steeped in the same artis-
tic environment and enjoyed patronage from some of the same clients,
painting and drawing. yet their work is very different. Poussin became a maker of exacting
figure paintings in which he re-created scenes from antiquity in high-
BY JOHN A. PARKS ly ordered narratives. His clarity of form, mastery of gesture, con-
cern for historical authenticity and elegance of composition earned
him the right to remark, “I have neglected nothing.” Claude, on the
other hand, became a painter of landscapes that embody an Arcadian
vision, an idea that had been popular since Renaissance intellec-
tuals rediscovered the poetry of Virgil. Embracing a new interest in
naturalism, Claude made many studies directly from nature, and
then in his paintings transformed the world into a vision of golden
and wistful tranquility infused by a light that seems truly divine.
Both Poussin and Claude were consummate draftsmen for
whom drawing was central to their practice, and it is their draw-
ings that form the focus of the exhibition “Poussin, Claude and
French Drawing in the Classical Age” at The Morgan Library
& Museum, in New York City. As the title suggests, the exhibi-
tion expands beyond those two masters to tell the story of the
development of French art though the 17th century, an era that is
known in France as “Le Grande Siècle,” meaning “the great age.”

Procris and Cephalus The story begins at the end of the 16th century when Italian art
by Maître de Flore, ca. second half of held sway in much of Europe. One work from this period included in
16th century, brush-and-brown-wash
and pen-and-brown-ink heightened with the exhibition is Procris and Cephalus, a drawing attributed to an art-
white gouache over black chalk, with ist known as the Maître de Flore, or “Master of Flora.” The artist sensu-
touches of red chalk.
ally retells a somewhat obscure classical myth in which Procris, seek-
ing to discover an infidelity on the part of her quite innocent husband
Cephalus, is shot and killed by him when he mistakes her for a deer.
“I think this is probably the most important 16th-century French draw-
ing in America—and one of the most beautiful,” says Jennifer Tonkovich,
the Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator of Drawings and Prints at The Morgan.
“We know it’s probably a drawing from the second school of Fontainebleau
[then the location of the French Court], but we’re not sure if the artist was
French or Italian, as there were so many Italians there. It has a decora-
tive approach, and it really represents that moment of elegant Mannerism
that gives way by the middle of the 17 th century to a greater natural-
ism, moving away from a courtly style as the Age of Reason appears.”

Orion Carrying Diana on His Shoulders
by Jacques Bellange, 1613–1616, pen-and-brown-ink and wash.

F
or all the activity in France, Italy remained the center of the artistic world
at the opening of the 17th century, and Poussin and Claude’s removal to
Rome was more or less a necessity for young artists at the time. “If you
look at the period before 1648, when the French Royal Academy was found-
ed, there really wasn’t the training system set up in Paris,” Tonkovich says.
“The activity was in Florence, in Rome and at the ducal court of Nancy—great
centers employing a lot of artists. It’s natural for intellectuals and artists to
make a pilgrimage to places where they can study and obtain patronage.”
Poussin is represented in the show by a group of drawings that display his
prowess at composition and design. Death of Hippolytus is a brilliantly orches-
trated telling of a mythical incident in which Hippolytus, a son of Theseus,
is killed when Poseidon sends a sea monster to terrify the horses pulling his
chariot. Poussin masses the tones in the landscape on the left to silhouette
the frightened horses, and then emphasizes the downward diagonal com-
ing in from the right to accentuate the movement of the tumbling chariot.
Claude is represented both by studio compositions and drawings done
straight from nature. A Hilly Landscape With Bare Trees appears to be a straight-
forward study from life, with the artist using layers of brown wash over black
Death of Hippolytus
chalk to create a sense of illumination and depth. Two other drawings by Claude
by Nicolas Poussin, 1645, pen-and-brown-ink
and wash over black chalk. are much more elaborate. The Sermon on the Mount lays out the composition

The Sermon on the Mount
by Claude Lorrain, 1655, pen-and-brown-ink
and wash over black chalk.
that serves as the basis for a finished

painting of the same subject, now in
The Frick Collection, in New York.
This is probably a study for the paint-
ing, although Claude did sometimes
work in the reverse order and make
drawings from his finished paintings,
using them as a record of pictures that
had been sold. A third Claude drawing
in the exhibition, Apollo Watching the
Herds of Admetus (page 51), is a high-
ly finished work. Brown washes have
been heightened with white gouache
to achieve rich and delicate render-
ing, and the whole is suffused with
the artist’s signature divine light.
A Hilly Landscape With Bare Trees,

by Claude Lorrain, 1639–1641, brush-and-
brown-wash over black chalk.

B
y the second half of the 17th century things had changed radical-
ly for artists seeking a career in France. Tonkovich points out that
French power abroad expanded vastly during the period, and pow-
er within France consolidated around the monarchy. Under Louis XIII
(1601–1643) and his famous chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642),
huge programs of building were undertaken, including the lavish Palais-
Cardinal, now known as the Palais Royal. Later in the century Louis XIV
(1638–1715) moved the court to the greatly expanded palace at Versailles,
where he lived in such splendor that he became known as the Sun King.
Art, artifice, theatre and music formed an integral part of court life, serv-
ing to aggrandize the monarchy, assert the independence of French culture
and provide entertainment for a privileged aristocracy. All of this activity pro-
vided employment for a considerable number of artists, and as the exhibi-
tion proceeds we come across artists whose careers brought them back to
France after their early years in Rome, along with others who trained in the
latter half of the century at the newly established
Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. “Over
the century, Paris starts emerging as a major artis-
tic and cultural capital,” Tonkovich says. “You now
have a system established for training French art-
ists, and Louis XIII also calls artists back from
Rome. You have artists coming back and find-
ing work, not only with the king but also with the
aristocracy and even some private collectors.”
Among the most influential artists recalled from
Rome was Simon Vouet (1590–1649). Vouet had
travelled widely in Italy, absorbing the elements of
the new Baroque style, a highly polished combina-
tion of Renaissance classicism, Mannerist adven-
ture, Caravaggesque lighting and the naturalism of
the Carracci brothers. Vouet had become immensely
successful in Rome, and on returning to France in
1627 he was appointed first painter to the king and
put his talents to work in a multitude of decorative
schemes, altarpieces and private commissions. He
established a large studio where a whole new genera-
tion of artists was to receive training and experience.
A Caryatid
Vouet’s mastery and elegance is on view in Study of a Woman Seated on a Step
by Charles Le Brun, 1641, black chalk
and gray wash, incised for transfer. With Another Study of Her Right Hand, in which a figure, posed in a way that is
both dynamic and natural, is rendered with a beautifully controlled chalk line.
Among the painters who trained with Vouet was Charles Le Brun (1619–
1690), who went on to become the most established and successful painter of
his day. After spending some time in Rome, where he worked under Poussin,
he returned to France, where he co-founded the Royal Academy in 1648.
Appointed first painter to Louis XIV, he became responsible for almost every
aspect of the many grandiose artistic projects that the Sun King undertook.
Among his most famous commissions were the ceiling paintings for the Hall
of Mirrors at Versailles. Le Brun’s style was more rhetorical than Vouet’s and

Apollo Watching the Herds of Admetus
by Claude Lorrain, 1663, pen-and-brown-ink and wash,
heightened with white gouache, over black chalk.
well-suited to the lavish official nar-

ratives required of him. The current
exhibition includes A Caryatid, which
shows off the artist’s perfect mas-
tery of form and the cool elegance at
the heart of the Classical Baroque.
Tonkovich acknowledges that for
many viewers today, Le Brun is a dif-
ficult artist to love. “It’s true that re-
sponding to the subject matter of
these obscure, aggrandizing histori-
cal scenes can be a bit tough,” she
says. “His drawings are a little easier
to warm up to. And then you realize
that through these drawings he had a
huge impact because he was training
the next generation of artists. Even
if he’s not beloved, he is an impor-
tant teacher, and he felt that drawing
was at the core of artistic practice.” Study of a Woman Seated on a Step With Another Study of Her Right Hand
by Simon Vouet, ca. 1630–1635, black and white chalk on light-brown paper.

A
The Holy Family on the Steps nother artist recalled to France by Louis XIII was Jacques Stella
by Nicolas Poussin, 1646–1648, (1596–1657), a close acquaintance of Poussin. (Poussin himself
pen-and-brown-ink with brown and
gray wash over black chalk. was recalled to France in 1640 but left after two years to live out
his life in Rome.) Stella’s art takes on that master’s rigor of com-
position, design and storytelling. In The Angel Appearing to St. Joseph
in the Carpenter’s Shop, the Virgin Reading Beyond (page 44), he negoti-
ates the realm between classical idealism, naturalist observation and re-
ligious sentiment. We see the care Stella takes with the historical detail
in the accoutrements of the carpenter’s workshop, alongside the clas-
sical refinement of the angel and the naturalistic pose of Joseph.
“I love that Stella is really thinking hard,” Tonkovich says. “He’s read-
ing the biblical text, he’s making the connection to antiquity, he’s think-
ing about antique dress and what the workshop would look like. There’s
a historical awareness that really informs this rigorous classicism. It’s a
kind of art that can leave some people cool, but there’s such a control and
beauty in this composition, as well as a sincerity that I find appealing.”
Among the many other superb works in the exhibition is a splendid por-
trait drawing by Daniel Dumonstier (1574–1646), a minor artist who spe-
cialized in portraiture, for which there was a fad at the French court. With
its exquisite, exacting line and sensitive tonal control, this drawing seems
influenced by a more northern tradition of the previous century, putting
one in mind of Holbein or Goltzius. Yet it also incorporates something of
both sensual, courtly Mannerism and a more contemporary naturalism.
Dumonstier’s drawing points to the complexity involved in sorting out
influences and styles. “When you are trying to tell the story of this centu-
ry, you have to grasp that there are these multiple strains of thought that
are not mutually exclusive,” Tonkovich says. “I think when you first study

art history you find it useful to learn
these categories—painterly, lin-
ear, classical, baroque and so on.
But you quickly discover that the
world is more nuanced than that.”
Certainly the wealth and breadth
of the drawings on display suggest
a vast interplay of ideas, as well as a
large roster of talented artists. The
best of them reached beyond the
styles of the day to achieve highly
personal and persuasive visions of
the world that would resonate down
through the centuries. Claude’s influ-
ence extended all the way to Turner,
the Hudson River School, and the
Impressionists. Poussin inf luenced
figurative painting for centuries,
and at the end of the 19th century
Cézanne famously announced his
intention to “do Poussin over again
from Nature.” Few artists have ever
enjoyed such a lasting legacy. Y
Portrait of a Gentleman
of the French Court
by Daniel Dumonstier, 1628,
black, red, yellow and white chalk.
ABOUT THE “Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in

EXHIBITION the Classical Age” is on view at The Morgan
Library & Museum, in New York City, through
October 15. Other current and upcoming exhibitions are
devoted to ancient Mesopotamian sculpture and to the writers
Henry James and Henry David Thoreau. For more information,
visit themorgan.org.

Magic Wand:
THE POWER OF THE
BALLPOINT PEN
The ballpoint pen, with its do-or-die nature, can inspire confidence
and liberate an artist’s powers of observation and expression.
M
BY JASON FRANZ
any artists and design-

ers favor the ballpoint
pen as a go-to tool. Some
are seduced by the rich
surface and delicately
modulated values it can
produce. Others, especially designers,
use it as much for its ubiquity as for its
dynamic range of line weight. For line
drawing it allows for everything from
ghostly soft to unyieldingly graphic
marks. Meanwhile the blue color of
the common pen’s ink serves as a
badge of membership in a distinctive
circle. And there is something really
compelling about the idea of mak-
ing a work of art or concept design
using an object that can be found on
just about any office desk in the world.
The ballpoint pen is a source of power
lying in wait wherever you look.
These are all good reasons to work
in ballpoint, but for me the medium
has come to embody something
greater—an entire way of making
art and relating to the world. Here
I’ll explain how using ballpoint has
helped my students gain confidence
and skill, and I’ll share a few pointers
for working with this rewarding and
surprisingly versatile implement.
2015_6_30
by Jason Franz, 2015, ballpoint pen.
54 Drawing / Summer 2017

ABOVE
Freshman Analytical Drawing
by Edward Harris, 2009, ballpoint pen. All student artwork made as
coursework in the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design.
RIG HT
Sophomore Graphic Design Analytical Drawing
by Christina Coobatis, 2012, ballpoint pen.
A TOOL FOR CONQUERING FEAR

My own use of ballpoint pen as a favored tool
arose out of my teaching. One obstacle for many
would-be artists is their inherent fear—of the
media, of the subject, of not being talented. If you
don’t let go of fear, you’ll never discover what you
can really do. I’ve taught drawing to college design
students for many years, and combating this sort
of fear, especially in first-year students, is a sig-
nificant challenge. To do so, I developed a simple
strategy for encouraging students to revel in
mistakes and uncertainty and turn those mistakes
into assets in their search for quality.
This strategy involves requiring students to
draw with media that are not easily erased. Eras-
ing is, in one sense, a safety belt that protects the
artist, but it can also be a crutch that impedes
him or her. I start by having students use wax-
based colored pencils, assigning them to complete
line drawings of simple objects in three layers.

TO P LE F T
by Kathryn Levy, 2009, ballpoint
pen.
LE F T
by Elli Matejka, 2009, ballpoint
pen.
Each layer will have a different value—first My students soon learned they could
light, then medium and finally dark. I also make a mess in their first layer with a light
instruct them to undertake each layer of line yellow pencil, and as soon as they applied
work with a different mindset—first search- a mid-value orange, that light yellow would
ing, then confirming and finally punctuat- seem to sink away into the paper, giving way
ing. The idea is that the first layer, no matter to the more confident—and usually more
how inaccurate it is, can only be so domi- accurate—second layer. Layer after layer,
nant, by virtue of its light value. It can only good drawings emerged from messes. As
do so much damage. a bonus, the combination of layered colors

ADVICE FOR ARTISTS:
CHOOSING AND
USING BALLPOINT
PENS
• The right pen for you might be one
designed especially for fine artists, or it
might be the cheapest bulk-rate ballpoint
you can find. Choose a pen for its color,
for how it feels in your hand and for how
the line feels on the paper.
• With a good pen you shouldn’t have to

press too hard to get a clear line, nor
should ink blob out at a light touch. Look
for a pen that can make light but clear lines
when handled gently and very dark lines
under more pressure. When you change
the pressure, the corresponding change in
line weight should be clear and consistent.
• Retractable ballpoints are available in dif-

ferent “weights,” each with different sizes
of ink balls, as well as in many different
colors.
• Consider wiping the pen tip from time

to time to eliminate the accumulation of
ink and paper fibers that can smear or
become blotches on the paper.
• Experiment with different kinds of paper,

from simple recycled printer paper to
drawing paper, Bristol paper, high-quality
matte inkjet paper, et cetera.
• Remember that ballpoint ink may fade over

time when exposed to air and light, and it
can even change color. Scan or photograph
high-quality images of your finished
drawings, and save the files in a safe place.
Sophomore Graphic Design Analytical Drawing

by Jessa Strayer, 2011, ballpoint pen.
proved aesthetically rich, energizing the drawings. Most provided a slow-motion view of what really happens in the
powerful was my students’ newfound enthusiasm for and design and execution of a drawing, showing students that
deliberate engagement in an honest, focused process. they could achieve good results without self-conscious hesi-
Encouraged by these results, I soon expanded my stu- tation. Unable to rely on erasing, my students had become
dents’ options to similar media, such as grayscale mark- fearless. The fact that they also learned that a simple,
ers and ballpoint pens. The governing factor is that these inexpensive ballpoint pen could be a tool for art was, for
media are not erasable and are available in varying values. me, a satisfying bonus.
With ballpoint, the artist can produce multiple layers with
a single pen, as different values can be achieved by adjust-
ing the pressure. PHILOSOPHY AND PERFORMANCE
These lessons served a few purposes. First and fore- As I worked through these simple ways of opening eyes
most, they helped dispel students’ unconscious assump- and training hands, I began to realize there was more to
tion that good artwork just happens through sheer talent. this than just basic instruction. The layering of a restrictive
And by forcing the process into several layers, the exercise and nonremovable medium began to feel like practicing

2014_11_25
a philosophy—a way of seeing and being in the world. incorporating that accident into the performance. In this
An ink mark is like a minute or a day in one’s life—it way my drawings are as much performances as they are
is a done deal that cannot be erased, and it builds into a depictions. With ballpoint there is not the safety net of an
greater whole. I decided that in order to fully understand eraser, so the meaning of every mark is magnified. Making
this mode of working, I would have to do it myself and do a drawing under a time limit (usually 90 minutes, for me)
it often, so I began using ballpoint as my primary medium intensifies this even further.
for drawing the figure. It has always been my goal to teach students a level of
Using ballpoint causes me to have a heightened aware- virtuosity and to create for them an unhindered pathway
ness of what’s going on in the drawing. I take neither the for the processes of discovery and expression through
model, my time nor the paper for granted. Every mark drawing. Working with ballpoint pen became the epitome
needs to be fluid and freely made but not haphazard. I’ve of that goal. A special sort of creative liberation is possible
found that this brings my creative impulse into closer when one recognizes the things with which one can work
alignment with my mind’s eye that is constantly judging magic, especially when they’re so ordinary as a common-
the drawing, resulting in greater precision, energy and place office pen. Such virtuosity is not so much about skill
intentionality. Meanwhile, ballpoint’s fluidity and the or talent as it is a frame of mind, a willingness to know
dynamic range of line weights it can achieve enable me to what can be done and then doing it.
alternate as needed between a gestural and a highly techni-
cal approach, which together can give a drawing a richness
of detail, subtlety and expression. THE BEAUTY OF IMPERFECTION
I consider this process somewhat like that of a juggler Japanese ensō painting—the Zen Buddhist practice of
who, knowing that a ball might drop at any moment, painting calligraphic ink circles—is said to reveal the
must be confident and at peace with the potential of nature of the artist and the context of its own making,

2013_10_15
2013_12_3
which occurs in a brief, unbroken period of time.

This is related to wabi-sabi, the notion of the beauty
of imperfection. I’ve found ballpoint to function in
a similar fashion. More than any other medium,
it allows my drawings to simultaneously evoke
the energy of both the living subject and the liv-
ing artist, imperfections and all. Ballpoint figure
drawings and ensō circles may involve different
tools and different types of ink, but they share a
role. Both practices simultaneously represent the
contemplated and the revealed.
We like to imagine a time when magic was
possible. Movies, books and video games all reflect
this innate human appreciation for the supernatural
and magical. The irony is that magic is, in truth,
already around us waiting to happen. All we need
to do is learn to see, choose our magic wand and
use it with confidence and grace. The nature of
the ballpoint pen and the ink’s unique range and
ability to layer make it a fine choice for those em-
barking on a life of creative discovery, expression 2013_11_26
and magic. Y by Jason Franz, 2013, ballpoint pen.

Expressions
OF THE FACE
DRAWING
FUNDAMENTALS
We examine six widely

recognizable facial expres-
sions, along with the
all-important
muscles responsible
for creating them.
BY JON DEMARTIN
Portrait of Isabella Brant

by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1621–1622,
black and red chalk with brown
wash, heightened with white, on light
gray-brown paper, 15 x 11½. Collection
British Museum, London, England.

T
he face is our main source of information about emotion, and facial expres-
sions act as universal signals of what’s going on inside a person’s mind.
The American psychologist Paul Ekman, a pioneer in the study of facial
expressions, traveled to remote parts of the world carrying photographs
of men and women making a variety of distinctive expressions. To his amaze-
ment, everywhere he went people agreed on what those expressions meant.
In art, the face is where feelings are expressed most effectively. The pre-
vious installment of Drawing Fundamentals discussed how to construct the
LE F T
main forms of the head and face, and in this article we’ll go deeper to explore ILLUS TR ATION 2
facial expressions and the primary muscles responsible for creating them. Calmness, Sadness
and Happiness
by David Pierre Giottino Humbert
de Superville, 1870, engraving.
Printed in Grammaire des arts du
dessin, by Charles Blanc.
B E LOW
ILLUS TR ATION 3
Six Universal Emotions
by Eliot Goldfinger, ca. 1991, from
his book Human Anatomy for
Artists: The Elements of Form. For
a more comprehensive analysis
of the subjects discussed in
this article, I highly recommend
Goldfinger’s book.
RECOGNIZ ABLE E XPRESSIONS

Everyone knows that the iconic “smiley face” immediately conveys happiness, which
is the most easily recognized emotion. (See Illustration 1.) Like a child’s draw-
ing of a simple round face with a smile, it always makes a positive impression.
In Illustration 2 we see a diagram of three schematic faces drawn by the
19th-century Dutch artist Humbert de Superville. Each face contains only
four lines within the contour of the head: one for each eye, one for the nose
and one for the mouth. In the face at left, all four of these lines are hori-
zontal, resulting in a face that expresses calmness and constancy. In the
ILLUS TR ATION 1 middle drawing the four lines are inclined downward and outward, pro-
ducing impressions of sadness and pain. In the third face the four lines
are inclined upward and outward, giving an impression of levity and hap-
piness. These faces may be highly simplified, but it’s remarkable that de
Superville is able to create these expressions using only four lines.

Illustration 3, by the artist and anatomist Eliot Goldfinger, fea-
tures a series of six schematic faces. According to Goldfinger’s book
Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form, these represent
the six universal facial expressions. Each emotion is so evident that
you probably don’t even need to read the label below to identify it.
As representational artists, however, it’s not enough for us to
know which simple lines convey a given expression. We’ve got to go
deeper and understand the “why” behind the expressions. Key to
this is anatomy. Don’t worry—we don’t need to memorize every last
muscle of the head. But we do need to know the important mus-
ILLUS TR ATION 4
cles that are primarily responsible for the six basic expressions
Muscles Primarily Responsible
shown above. Having this understanding will make the differ- for Creating Facial Expressions
ence between guesswork and authority when drawing the face. by Jon deMartin, 2014, black and white
chalk on toned paper, 14 x 11. After an
écorché by Eliot Goldfinger.
SUPERFICIAL SIDE DEEP SIDE
Frontalis (Medial Portion)
Frontalis
Corrugator Supercilii
(Lateral Portion)
Levator Palpebrae
Superioris
Levator Labii Superioris
Alaeque Nasi
Levator Labii Superioris
Zygomaticus Major
Nodular Platysma
Depressor Anguli Oris

ILLUS TR ATION 5
Neutral Expression
by Jon deMartin, 2017, red and
white chalk on toned paper, 14 x 11.
MAJOR MUSCLES
The facial muscles can produce an
almost infinite number of expres-
sions as they contract or relax. Some
expressions are emphatic, others
subtle. True expressions are invol-
untary and convey the emotions a
person is feeling. False expressions
do not; they can be used as a mask
or cover. You can become familiar
with facial expression by using a mir-
ror to look for the action of the mus-
cles on your own face. Many cartoon-
ists keep a mirror handy so that they
can assume any expression they want
when illustrating their characters.
When the facial muscles contract,
they change the forms of the face in
countless ways. They move the fea-
tures, such as the mouth, the eye-
brows and the chin. They also cre-
ate wrinkles, furrows and ridges
in the skin, which usually run per-
pendicular to the muscle’s fibers.
Expressions may be symmetrical
or asymmetrical. The latter hap-
pens when the muscles do not con-
tract in unison. Think of a sneer
by Clint Eastwood or Elvis—or no-
tice the asymmetrical mouth in the
self-portrait by Nicolas Poussin. I had to work quickly and effectively, so any advantage was helpful,
(See Illustration 21 on page 68.) both in my understanding of the muscles’ function and in my use of
Illustration 4 indicates the muscles three-dimensional line. (For more information on this last topic, see the
that are most responsible for creating Drawing Fundamentals article in the Spring 2016 issue of Drawing.)
facial expressions. Knowing their spe-
cific locations and functions gives our
work clarity and authority. For exam- SIX ESSENTIAL FACIAL E XPRESSIONS
ple, when I was drawing the model
Christophe for the subsequent illus- To illustrate the most common facial expressions, I created sever-
trations and wanted a happy expres- al drawings of Christophe, a model who has a unique ability to trans-
sion, it wasn’t enough to ask him to form his face. Each drawing is paired with a diagram showing the
“look happy.” To create “happy,” we most important muscles at work in conveying that emotion.
identified a specific muscle: zygo- I first drew Christophe in a neutral state, with no facial mus-
maticus major. I asked him to con- cle contractions or discernible expression. (See Illustration 5.) We
tract it, and presto—he looked happy. can compare this neutral face to the subsequent expressive fac-
We followed the same proce- es to determine what actions and movements have taken place.
dure with all the other expressions
that I drew, identifying and activat-
ing each appropriate set of muscles.

1 HAPPINESS ILLUS TR ATION 6
Happiness
by Jon deMartin, 2017,
When we express happiness, the red and white chalk on
corners of the mouth are pulled toned paper, 14 x 11.
up, out and back. (See Illustration
6.) Additionally, the nasolabial fur-
row—the furrow of skin that passes
from the top of the wing of the nose
down to the corner of the mouth—
is pulled in the same direction as the
mouth and is deepened. The fronts
of the cheeks are raised and puffed,
producing wrinkles under the low-
er eyelid. The eyes narrow, and the
1 1
lower face is widened and lifted.
The primary muscle of hap-
piness is the zygomaticus major. ILLUS TR ATION 7
(See Illustration 7.) When it con- The Primary Muscles
of Happiness
tracts, it pulls the corners of the
1: Zygomaticus Major
mouth up and out. Dimples can
appear when this muscle con-
tracts. For a great example, check
out the dimples in Rubens’ draw-
ing of Isabella Brant. (See page 60.)
2 SADNESS
When we express sadness, the inner
ends of the eyebrows are raised and drawn
together, which usually inclines the eye-
ILLUS TR ATION 8
brow. (See Illustration 8.) Horizontal
Sadness
by Jon deMartin, 2017, red
skin wrinkles develop on the center of
and white chalk on toned the forehead only. The medial ends of
paper, 14 x 11. the folds covering the eye—that is, the
ends nearer to the middle of the face—
are pulled up. The lateral parts of those
folds, closer to the edges of the face, are
1 1 pulled down. The angles of the mouth
are pulled down at the corners, length-
2 2
ening the “long face” of sadness.
There are several primary muscles
for expressing sadness. (See Illustration
ILLUS TR ATION 9
9.) The inner ends of the eyebrows are
The Primary Muscles raised by the medial portions of the fron-
of Sadness talis, a muscle that covers much of the
1: Frontalis (Medial Portion) forehead. The corrugator supercilii pulls
2: Corrugator Supercilii
3 3 3: Depressor Anguli Oris the inner ends of the eyebrows togeth-
er, which can express grief or suf-
fering but also reflection, concentra-
tion, curiosity or confusion. Finally,
the depressor anguli oris pulls the ends
of the mouth down and out, express-
ing sorrow, depression or disgust.

ILLUS TR ATION 10
Surprise
3 SURPRISE
red and white chalk on When our faces show surprise, the
toned paper, 14 x 11. brows are raised straight up and
arched. (See Illustration 10.) The
upper eyelids are raised in more in-
tense versions of surprise, and the
1A 1A
1B 1B white above the iris shows. The lower
jaw drops with the mouth open, the
lips relax, and the face lengthens.
The frontalis is the essential mus-
cle for expressing surprise. (See
Illustration 11.) Both the medial and
lateral portions of the frontalis pull
together and raise the entire eyebrow.
ILLUS TR ATION 11
The Primary Muscles
of Surprise
1A: Frontalis (Medial Portion)
1B: Frontalis (Lateral Portion)
Note: Jaw drops, mouth
opens, lips relax.
4 FE AR
In fear, the brows are raised and
drawn together; they become straight
and horizontal, with a kink at the ILLUS TR ATION 12
medial ends near the center of the Fear
face. (See Illustration 12.) Wrinkles by Jon deMartin, 2017,
develop across the entire forehead. red and white chalk on
toned paper, 14 x 11.
The mouth is usually open. The
entire lower face widens and flat-
tens, producing high, rigid folds on
the front and sides of the neck.
1 1
The essential muscles govern- 1 1
ing the fear expression are the cor-
rugator supercilii and the fronta- 2 2
lis (both the medial and the lateral 3
portions), which raise the eyebrows.
(See Illustration 13.) Meanwhile,
the levator palpebrae superioris rais- ILLUS TR ATION 13
es the upper eyelid above its normal The Primary Muscles
of Fear 4 4
position, creating a sense of sur- 1: Frontalis (Medial
prise or terror. And near the bot- and Lateral Portions)
tom of the face, the nodular platys- 3: Levator Palpebrae Superioris
ma contracts, pulling the corners of 4: Nodular Platysma
the mouth out and slightly down.

5 ANGER ILLUS TR ATION 14
Anger
When our muscles express anger, red and white chalk on
the medial ends of the eyebrows toned paper, 14 x 11.
are pulled down and drawn togeth-
er. (See Illustration 14.) The nos-
trils flare; the mouth squares, ex-
posing the teeth; the lips tense;
and the neck becomes engorged.
Among the muscles that cause
1 1
this expression is the corrugator su- 2 2
percilii, which pulls the eyebrows
down and together. (See Illustration
15.) Also at work is the levator pal-
pebrae superioris, which raises
the upper eyelid, giving the eye a
bulged, intense, staring quality. ILLUS TR ATION 15
The Primary Muscles
of Anger
2: Levator Palpebrae Superioris
Note: Mouth closes tightly; or
opens and squares off.
6 DISGUST
The last emotion we’ll study here is
disgust. In this expression, the mid-
dle portion of each side of the upper
ILLUS TR ATION 16
lip is pulled up, and the skin on the
Disgust
by Jon deMartin, 2017, red
bridge of the nose becomes wrin-
and white chalk on toned kled. (See Illustration 16.) The front of
paper, 14 x 11. the cheeks rise and bulge, and wrin-
kles develop below the lower eyelid.
Because the lower eyelid is pushed
upward by the rising cheek, the eye
opening becomes narrower. Extreme
contraction of these muscles will part
the lips, exposing the upper teeth.
The levator labii superioris raises the
center of each lip, producing a sneer,
2 2
1 1 which expresses disgust, disdain and
ILLUS TR ATION 17
contempt. (See Illustration 17.) The
The Primary Muscles
of Disgust levator labii superioris alaeque nasi
1: Levator Labii Superioris raises the posterior ends of the wings
2: Levator Labii Superioris Alaeque Nasi
of the nose and also raises the mid-
dle portion of the upper lip slightly.

ILLUS TR ATION 18
Terrour or Fright
by Charles Le Brun,
17th century, engraving,
11¼ x 7¼.
LE ARNING FROM THE OLD MASTERS

The representation of human emotions through facial expressions has interest-
ed Western artists since antiquity, and for centuries the study of facial expres-
sions was a key component of artistic training in academies across Europe. We
can learn much by studying the Old Masters’ approaches to facial expressions.
In Illustration 18 we see an engraving by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690)
that shows terror. This expression can convey intense rage, because the
upper eyelids are pulled up, the inner ends of the eyebrows are pulled
down, and the mouth is open. Le Brun was an influential artist in this
area, and he delivered a lecture to the French Academy on the subject of fa-
cial expressions that became a lasting influence on European artists.

Self-Portrait With Beret, Wide Eyed is one of many studies Rembrandt
(1606–1669) made of facial expressions. (See Illustration 19.) His face
here may express surprise, wonder or astonishment, with possibly some
sadness or anxiety. The depiction of feelings and emotions played a partic-
ularly important role in biblical, mythological and allegorical scenes, and
this drawing could have been a study for Rembrandt’s Raising of Lazarus.
Violent anger can be seen in Damned Soul, a drawing attributed to
Michelangelo (1475–1564). (See Illustration 20.) The drawing express-
es anger through the extreme contraction of the eyebrows, the flared B E LOW
nostrils, the mouth exposing the teeth and the tensed neck. ILLUS TR ATION 20
Sometimes drawings don’t depict one single emotion but show a Damned Soul
mixture of several, as seen in our final example, Poussin’s (1594–1665) attributed to Michelangelo,
ca. 1525, black chalk,
Self-Portrait, drawn in red chalk. (See Illustration 21.) Poussin’s draw- 11 5⁄8 x 8. Collection Uffizi
ing depicts a strong feeling of disgust, with some sadness, particu- Gallery, Florence, Italy.
larly in the lower face. The eyes, however, have a look of concern.
ABOVE RIG HT
ILLUS TR ATION 19 ILLUS TR ATION 21
Self-Portrait With Beret, Self-Portrait
Wide-Eyed attributed to Nicolas Poussin,
by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1630, etch- ca. 1630, red chalk, 10 x 7¾.
ing, 2 x 1¾. Collection Rijksmuseum, Collection British Museum,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. London, England.

THE REPRESENTATION OF HUMAN EMOTIONS
THROUGH FACIAL EXPRESSIONS HAS INTERESTED
WESTERN ARTISTS SINCE ANTIQUITY, AND FOR
CENTURIES THE STUDY OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
WAS A KEY COMPONENT OF ARTISTIC
TRAINING IN ACADEMIES ACROSS EUROPE.
F
ILLUS TR ATION 2 2
acial expressions, like figure gestures, are fleeting. But with knowledge Drawing From a Plaster
of the underlying muscles and plenty of thoughtful practice, we can Cast Made From a Cadaver
draw them with conviction, widen our creative horizons and convey the by Jon deMartin, 2015, black
and white chalk, 18 x 24.
entire spectrum of human emotion. Y

Curator’s
Choice
The Los Angeles County

Museum of Art
The Los Angeles
County Museum of Art
(LACMA) contains one
of the richest bodies
of drawings in the
Western United States.
We asked Leslie Jones,
the museum’s curator
of prints and drawings,
to share several of her
favorite works from the
collection. Her choices
take us from Mannerist
Italy to the bold
experiments of 1960s
America.
BY AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS

Study of a Cabbage 2
by François Boucher
ca. 1735, black chalk with white heightening on blue paper, 9⅞ x 14¼.
The Rococo artist François Boucher (1703–1770) specialized in refined and lux-
urious subjects, but for this drawing he applied his talents to the humblest of
objects. “He’s an artist associated with the French royal court, and here he is
drawing a cabbage,” Jones says. “But he portrays it with such a delicate and ani-
mated hand. He gives this rustic table vegetable the same sort of treatment he
would have given Madame de Pompadour’s skirt. They’re given equal treat-
ment in the eye of the artist, and you get a real sense of his love of drawing.”
1
Virgin of the Annunciation it’s a fascinating result. It causes a certain consciousness of
by Livio Agresti the frame, which appeals to my modernist sensibility. And
the overlaying grid, which would have been used to trans-
ca. 1559, black chalk with touches of blue wash, squared for transfer, 9⅝ x 7⅛.
All artwork this article collection Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los fer the image to a wall or panel, also has the effect of calling
Angeles, California. All photos © Museum Associates/LACMA unless attention to the surface of the paper, in contrast to the sug-
otherwise indicated.
gestion of depth and volume in the drawing of the figure.”
The name of the Italian Mannerist artist Livio Agresti The artwork boasts a collector’s mark, reminding us of the
(1508–1580) will probably be unfamiliar to most read- drawing’s long provenance. And then there’s the curious sig-
ers, but you don’t need to know anything about the art- nature “M. Angelo” in the bottom-left corner. “Some owner
ist to appreciate this stately drawing. “I love this work along the line wanted to pass it off as a Michelangelo,” Jones
for the way it illustrates the life of a drawing,” says Leslie explains. “It’s not, but there are similarities in the approach
Jones. “It has the unintentional cropping that can happen to drawing—you have this monumental mass of the Virgin
with Old Master drawings, which are often cut up and tak- and the great clinging drapery you see in Michelangelo’s
en from larger sheets. The Virgin’s hand just touches the drawings. All these traces of previous ownership have left
left edge, and her toe touches the bottom corner. Her halo their mark on the drawing and become part of it. That’s
is also cropped at the top—something that would never something you don’t necessarily see in paintings or in sculp-
have been done at the time in the final rendering. We don’t tures from this period, because those are so finished and pre-
know who did the cropping or how it happened, but to me cious in a way, whereas drawings were working material.”

Study of Nudes Diving
3 by Paul Cézanne
ca. 1863–1866, graphite and white gouache on yellowish paper, 7⅛ x 10⅝.
“This drawing fascinates me,” says Jones of this early work by Cézanne (1839–1906).
“It’s a great rendering of figures, done with a combination of contour line and ani-
mated hatch marks. In addition, it demonstrates the particular role of paper as
space in drawing. In general, in drawing, paper reads as space and potentiality.
When I’m looking at a painting and I see exposed canvas, it often reads as unfin-
ished, but with drawings I don’t sense that. The paper is so much of what drawing
is—it doesn’t have to be filled to feel complete. In this case the paper is lightly coated
with gouache, so we know Cézanne wanted it to be read as part of a composition.”
It’s also a quirky drawing in several ways. Both divers are missing hands and feet,
and they’re not in a position any diver would naturally assume. “The figures weren’t
diving when Cézanne drew them, nor was photography used,” Jones says. “They were
lying on the floor of his studio, stretched out with their heads raised. That makes
me like the drawing even more, as a glimpse into the artist’s studio practice.”

4
Two Studies
of a Right Hand
by Adolph von Menzel
1884, carpenter’s pencil with stumping, 7⅛ x 4⅜.
“Drawing often lets us see an art-

ist’s decision-making process,
and that’s especially true in stud-
ies like this one,” Jones says. This
sheet was drawn in preparation for
Menzel’s (1815–1905) large painting
Piazza dÉrbe in Verona (Marketplace
in Verona), which now hangs at
the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden, in Germany. “Menzel was
trying to figure out how to portray
the hand of a woman carrying a bas-
ket,” Jones says. “The two grasps are
slightly different—in one it’s contort-
ed and uncomfortable, in the other
firm and secure. Menzel was a real-
ist. He wanted to get it right. We see
that too with the marks along the
edge of the drawing, which look like
marks for scaling—the artist has cre-
ated his own ruler and is measuring
everything out. And he did all this
with a broad carpenter’s pencil.”

5
The Postman
Joseph Roulin
by Vincent van Gogh
1888, brown ink over graphite, 20¼ x 16⅝.
“This choice is probably not a sur-

prise—it’s certainly one of our mas-
terworks,” says Jones. “But I decided
to include it not only because it’s a
great drawing or because it’s by Van
Gogh [1853–1890] but because it’s an
example of drawing that relates to a
painting but is not preparatory.” For
years this drawing was thought to be
a study for a painting that now hangs
in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
In fact Van Gogh created the draw-
ing after he had finished painting,
in order to illustrate for his brother
Theo, who lived in Paris, what he was
working on at the time in the south
of France. “It was more cost effec-
tive for Van Gogh to make a drawing
than to send the painting up to Paris,”
Jones says. “It points to how draw-
ing can be used as a means of com-
munication, as a diagram. We forget
about that in this day and age when
we can just snap a photo of anything.
“But when you look at the draw-
ing in comparison to the painting,
it’s clearly its own work of art,” Jones
continues. “In the painting you don’t
see the individual marks that make
up the coat and the tufts of hair—
those are all blended. In the draw-
ing you see them all, and they are 6 Untitled
quintessential Van Gogh marks.” by Lee Bontecou
1958, soot on paper, 39 x 27. © Lee Bontecou, 1958.
Starting in the late 1950s, Lee Bontecou (1931–) created

a series of drawings in the unusual medium of soot. “She
was working with a welding torch,” says Jones, “and she real-
ized that if she turned off the flame, the torch would breathe
out soot. I love the fact that this takes us back to the origins
of drawing—carbon was one of the first drawing media. It
also points to the very experimental nature of drawing—you
can use anything to make a drawing, even a welding torch.”

8
L.A.
by Ed Ruscha
1970, gunpowder and pastel, 11½ x 29. © Ed Ruscha.
LACMA owns a deep body of work by the Los

Angeles-based Ruscha (1937–). “This is another
masterwork of our collection,” Jones says. “It was
made with an untraditional material. The art-
ist used gunpowder, which takes us back to the
idea that any medium can be used for drawing.
Ruscha loves to exploit that. In the 1970s espe-
cially, he made works using gunpowder, Pepto-
Bismol, chocolate syrup or anything else just
because he liked how it worked on the paper.
Here he applied gunpowder with cotton balls
and Q-Tips and mixed in a little pastel for the
color. It’s drawing as both graphic precision and
pure innovation, where anything goes.” Y
7
TIDDLY WINKS
by Frederick Hammersley
1969, computer-generated drawing, 11 x 14¾.
© Frederick Hammersley Foundation.
Photo courtesy L.A. Louver.
“This is a computer-generated ABOUT THE

drawing, and it raises the ques- MUSEUM
tion of where you draw the line
about what drawing is,” says Jones,
With a collection of more than 130,000 objects,
noting that this work is techni-
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA),
cally a print, having been cre-
ated in a printer. “But in the end
located in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles,
I think these were very much is one of the largest art museums in the Western
drawings to Hammersley [1919– United States. Among the collection’s strengths are
2009], because they were explor- Asian art, Latin American art ranging from pre-
atory and open-ended,” she says. Columbian to modern and contemporary, and Islamic
“He was going into a new domain, art. Among this year’s programs are an exhibition
working with a computer and us- of Marc Chagall’s creations for the stage and five
ing a program. He didn’t know exhibitions presented as part of “Pacific Standard
what would come out at the end; Time: LA/LA,” a multi-venue series exploring Latin
he didn’t have control over it.” American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles.
For more information, visit lacma.org.

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SEPTEMBER 5
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working in two dimensions in all art media.
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featured in The Artist’s Magazine!
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10 winners will be prominently featured in the
magazine and will receive $250 each in cash prizes.
For complete guidelines and to enter, visit

artistsnetwork.com/competitions/
over-60-art-competition
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NEW & NOTABLE
Ben Sack
WHY NE W?
Virginia artist Ben Sack earned a
B.F.A. at Virginia Commonwealth
University in 2011 and has since
held several solo exhibitions,
most recently 2016’s “Atlas of
Thought” at Emory & Henry
College, in Virginia. He also has
served three times as an artist-
in-residence aboard the MS
Amsterdam cruise ship on its
circumnavigations of the world.
WHY NOTABLE?
Sack’s playful but ambitious ink
drawings blur representation
and abstraction to form a sort
of fantastical cartography,
showing us impossibly vast cities
and landscapes in exhaustive
detail. At times they evoke not
traditional maps or cityscapes so
much as geometrical abstraction
and Beaux-Arts motifs.
Cosmoglyph
2015, pen-and-
IF YOU LIKE IT… ink, 68 x 60.

Private collection.
See more of the artist’s

work at bensackart.com.
Infinite Caprice
2016, pen-and-ink,
71 x 71. Private
collection.

SHOW OFF YOUR
VIBRANCY IN
BLACK & WHITE.
Stickley at Rest, by Janet Evander. Third-place winner,

2016 Shades of Gray Competition
Shed your colors and enter your best black, white and gray drawing
in the Shades of Gray competition, presented by Drawing magazine.
You could gain a lot by working with the power of black, white and
gray, including $1,000 in cash, an appearance in Drawing magazine
and national recognition.
Accepted media include:

• Graphite • Chalk • Ballpoint Pen
• Charcoal • Colored Pencil • Mixed Media
• Pastel • Pen-and-Ink • And More!
EARLY-BIRD DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

For the full list of prizes and rules, visit www.artistsnetwork.com/shadesofgray
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