The Art of Ballpoint: Experimentation, Exploration, and Techniques in Ink

The Art of Ballpoint offers a historical perspective of the pen as an art medium and how it has evolved and grown in popularity. The book features several leading contemporary ballpoint artists who are creating complex and provocative masterpieces. They discuss their methods, the messages in their work, and their personal connections to the pen.

These fascinating pieces range from psychologically charged portraits to mutant animals to spectacular wall-sized abstractions. The chapters cover classical drawings, modern abstractions, graphic illustration, contemporary realism, and sketchbook styles.

Interspersed throughout the book, ballpoint techniques are demonstrated through stepped-out exercises that explore line drawing and crosshatching, shading and tone, photo-realism, drawing texture and pattern, working in layers, mixing other media with ballpoint, and more. Glide through this inspiring book and enjoy the intricate and impressive works created from an everyday tool.

Matt Rota is a New York artist who currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts graduate visual narrative program, and has taught in the illustration department at the Maryland Institute College of Art. His drawings and prints have been exhibited at the National Arts Club, the Society of Illustrators, and Last Rites Gallery in New York; the Copro Gallery in Lost Angeles; Galerie L'Oeil du Prince in Paris; and other international locations. He has received recognition and awards from American Illustration, Communication Arts, 3x3 magazine, Creative Quarterly, Spectrum, and Lurzers Intl Archive, where he was listed as one of the top 200 illustrators worldwide. Matt Rota is the author of Rockport's The Art of Ballpoint.