Artist reuses vintage envelopes to create remarkable biro portraits

Both my brother and I thought of ourselves as artists when we were kids. He the kind that could actually draw and paint, and me the kind that pretended that I could actually draw and paint.

At least once a year (until I was 14 or 15) we bought art supplies at our favorite bookstore. We got paint brushes, watercolor sets, color pencils, crayons and paint tubes. But, soon I realized, I wasn't artistic and creative enough to pursue a degree in fine arts. And no amount of expensive equipment can make me a better artist. Sabi nga sa Tagalog, "nasa Indian yan, wala sa pana."

Take, for example, Mark Powell. The London-based artist draws incredibly detailed portraits of elderly people using only a standard ballpoint pen. Know what I love more about Mark than his awesome drawings? His canvases.

The University of Huddersfield graduate uses old envelopes, maps, books and newspapers to create incredible life-like illustrations. His obsession with vintage paper documents first started when he found an envelope in an antique shop that had been sent from the front line in World War I.

You can check out more of Mark's portraits on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter for the latest updates on his creations.

Comments

Enigmatic Shapes and Psychedelic Patterns

To say that I love Sanagi 's work is an understatement. Looking at her art feels sort of therapeutic, and I find her drawings refreshingly intricate. They're trippy, psychedelic, and resemble something that you might see under a microscope. Not much is Googleable about Sanagi, but that's fine. There aren't many artists these days that still pull off the whole mysterious vibe, so I commend her for that. By the way... they're all hand-drawn with pen and ink.

James DeRosso's ceramic monsters

I really like these whimsical ceramic creatures by James DeRosso. Yes, they have bulging eyes and toothy grins, but they're not scary at all. The Portland-based artist started making cute monsters while he was a student to jokingly create gargoyle-like guardians for the kiln. After other students kept taking his quirky little figures, he realized there was a market for them. "I'm enjoying the whole monster making niche," James says. "It's amazingly gratifying to be doing ceramics full time and especially to be a teacher introducing kids to the joy of clay." Be sure to visit his website and like his Facebook page for the latest monster news.

Here's a trippy reimagining of the zodiac animals.

These are the animals from the zodiac calendar as created by Japanese artist feebee . I can't even begin to imagine how long painting these hybrid creatures on wood panel must take, but the results are pretty amazing. Some of them look terrifying, some aren't scary at all, and one looks like the Pokemon Meowth. They're all eye-catching, but none of them mean as much to me as the one representing my own sign, the Sheep (also known as the Goat or Ram). The twelve animal signs represent twelve different types of personalities. It is said that people born in the Year of the Sheep can be very indecisive and lazy. Hmmm, I guess Chinese zodiac is pretty much legit.

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