The Ballpointer PICKS page

Original content © The Ballpointer / Mahozawari Unlimited

Drawing magazine—which probably boasts international circulation as the corporate-backed publication it is—is a fairly benign art source, evident in its conservative content and the bland way it's served. The editorial policy at Drawing seems to be 'light and sweet'. Nothing meaty to be found—not anything that might scare away potential advertisers or subscribers, anyway—and all the personality of a pigeon.
This kind of generic magazine is best for the bragging rights it provides to contributing writers, the artists they cover and the parents of all involved, and puts a couple of extra bucks into the pockets of those contributors (hopefully), most of whom seem to teach drawing classes somewhere or another. Probably ups their 'cool' quotient to the impressionable art students they oversee. Ballpoint drawings illustrating some of the articles appear to be those of students.
Drawing's mother company—the self-professed hobbyist-targeting ArtistsNetwork, a division of F+W Media, Inc, which must be a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble or at least have a distribution deal with the book chain giant—doesn't give away any of its information; their website only offers enough of a 'contents' list to try to tempt you into a subscription. At ten bucks per issue, it's at least cheaper than an art class, but I recommend browsing for free while sipping a latté at your neighborhood superstore・

PICKS PAGE ARCHIVES 2015:

Pepe Lozano Cordoba, Spain

BALLPOINTBRIEF by B. Neufeld posted September 11, 2017

Drawing a Blank・September 29・

Case study; ongoing. 1: Observe how different media outlets handle the reporting of ballpoint pen artwork. 2: Report findings to The Ballpointer.
Drawing magazine threw their proverbial hat into the ring with the publication of their Summer 2017 edition: The Ballpoint Pen Issue. Tucked within its 80 pages of art supply adverts, subscription sales and how-to-draw primers (non-ballpoint) a couple of articles focussing on ballpoint pen art can be found... Continues below ...

Eric Seaholm Tokyo, Japan

Lennie Mace Tokyo, Japan

NEW on the PICKS page: deep, rich, mixed-media ballpointing by Angela Maltoni (Italy)

2021: The Ballpointer enters YEAR SEVEN online. Great THANKS to all our supporters!

PICKS PAGE ARCHIVES2016: Read about these artworks in the artists' own words in The Ballpointer PICKPIECE archives. Click on the artwork to see their PICKPIECES.

PICK PIECES The Ballpointer staff choose the artwork and let the artist explain it in their own words Vol 4 No 6 posted Sept 12, 2017

Benjamin Sack・Leesburg, Virginia

Mappa Mundi 2017 ・ 76 x 68'' (193.04 x 172.72cm) ・ pen on woven cotton paper (drawn aboard the MS Amsterdam).

Andrey Poletaev Lugansk, Ukraine

Holly Cappello Portland, Oregon

Lennie Mace, 1984 New York, New York

Ler Huang Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Since 2014

Dave Warshaw San Diego, California

The issue kicks off its ballpoint coverage by plugging Trent Morse's book, Ballpoint Art. Matt Rota's book The Art of Ballpoint is not mentioned, but Drawing's one-degree of separation is clear: their three featured ballpoint artists all appeared in Rota's book and are alumni of School of Visual Arts in New York, where he teaches. Guno Park, whose artwork garnered cover placement (pictured), is a fellow instructor at SVA.
Nicolas V. Sanchez is the highlight ballpointer of the three. Sanchez has been attracting attention with his ballpoint-on-Moleskine sketchbooks, a selection of which was showcased by The Ballpointer in a special PICKS page slideshow, but I'm still waiting for the unquestionably talented artist to go large-scale and finally put his 4-color BiCs to greater use.
Drawing saved a personal fave for last, closing the issue with a page of Ben Sack's intricate, imaginative carto-graphics. His drawings are not part of their ballpoint feature—his fine-liner pen drawings were instead published—but Sack has one-degree of separation, too; with The Ballpointer : his ballpoint drawings were featured in February, 2017.

Chen Zhen Kaohsiung, Taiwan

''Similar to cartographers of old aboard the wooden ships of early exploration, I executed my drawing at the same pace of the MS Amsterdam’s peregrination of the Earth’s circumference, however in slightly more comfort. After visiting a port for a day, I'd return to my cabin and commemorate the landfall within the drawing. There were about 37 ports of call in all. The title of the piece is derived from and honors the famous map executed by the 15th century cartographer Fra Mauro (A region on the moon is named after him). 'Mappa Mundi ' were maps of the entirety of the known world.''・

For more art, information & contact: www.bensackart.com・ Artwork © Benjamin Sack

No, the drawings presented here have NOT been ''defaced'' or altered in any way. The title of this new section, DE FACED, simply describes the fact that the artworks presented here have been pulled from social media posts such as facebook and, as such, therefore ''de''-faced, as it were. Some of the artists may be familiar to readers, but new faces will also be introduced here. These artists have not been notified of inclusion here, but every effort will be made to credit the artwork as they did in their original posts.