Ballpoint Pen Art: When Simple Tools Beat Complex Technology

Last week the internet in Torquay shut down for a day, so I went to the local library to upload a few blog posts. While there I picked up a book, "The Art of Ballpoint" by Matt Rota. I didn't go looking for it. The book was placed on display directly opposite the elevator doors where it caught my attention.

Most people have access to ballpoint pens. Cheap, accessible, reliable.

Most of us have some experience doodling with a ballpoint while listening to a lecture or drawing in the margins instead of writing an essay. Outside of being captive in an educational institution, or perhaps the workplace, most of us wouldn't think of the humble ballpoint as our primary art-making tool.

With the invention of the camera, taking portrait and landscape photos quickly diminished the value of realist painters, who could not compete with the speed and accuracy of the camera.

Similarly, AI has rapidly accelerated the capacity of individuals to create images based on their imagination without learning to draw, use graphic design software or even take a photograph. Instead, creators can use plain language to describe the image they wish to see and AI does the rest.

But there is something rewarding about slow image creation.

About starting out, not knowing how the image will develop.

About tuning in to our emotions and communicating through the act of drawing rather than filtering that emotion through rational language.

When we slow down, draw without thinking and really engage with the process, we don't just create a drawing.  The drawing creates us.

As we draw, the brain creates new pathways, improving emotional regulation, sensory integration and enhancing our capacity to think more creatively.

All that it takes is a ballpoint pen and the back of an envelope. So what are you waiting for?