james mylne
fine ball point pen mixed media Art
James Mylne is a London based fine artist specializing in photo-realism through the use of ballpoint pens on paper. He is considered a pioneer for the use of ballpoints in photo-realistic artwork. With the use of a normal Bic ballpoint pen (or biro) James will spend up to 400 hours working in intricate detail to create beautiful black and white drawings often combining the careful use of spray paints to add colour backgrounds & additions. Although working mostly from small, old photographs to create his fine drawings, James has collaborated with famous photographers such as Terry O’Neill, Ex Rolling Stones guitarist Bill Wyman, and Roger Eaton.
Influenced by both ‘Urban Art’ and ‘Contemporary Art’ Mylne has been exhibited alongside Street Art legends such as Shepard Fairey, D*Face, Banksy, Mr. Brainwash as well as YBA artists such as Damien Hirst & Gavin Turk.
His first solo exhibition was at The Conningsby Gallery, London, in 2008 which was the first ever exhibition in Europe (possibly worldwide) showing photo realistic ballpoint artworks.
He has collaborated on two major commercial projects. The first with BIC, which produced an online video of him recreating Vermeer’s “The Girl With The Pearl Earring” in their ballpoint pen, which went viral generating 3/4 million views on YouTube (https://youtu.be/R6r9LhbQxvk).
The second with Microsoft which Saw him use their digital pens to create drawings on their newly released tablet. The works were revealed to the press at The National Portrait Gallery in 2014 (https://youtu.be/bUA61HemlMU).
At the end of 2019 Jame’s artwork of Boris Johnson as The Joker went viral appearing on news websites, celebrities’ social feeds, and even onto placards at anti Brexit protests. Around the same time he was asked to write the preface of a new book on Ballpoint Art where was also interviewed and featured. More recently his artwork of Paddington bear on a £50 banknote made waves and was the point of interest in an interview with Euronews Culture, view online here.
In the past he has been interviewed by BBC London News at a group exhibition, and even made it into a 2 page piece, in an issue of GQ magazine, where the editor himself interviewed and covered his art.
AVAILABLE WORK
"Queen of The Hood", is part of The artist's 'Grandly Grimey' series which is about depicting classical figures and movements in more modern settings. Recontextualizing the subject into today's more urban scenes and cultures.
Limited edition of 25,
53 x 43cm,
Giclee print on Hahnemühle Rag 310gsm,
numbered & signed + COA provided
James Mylne
Original Artwork - drawing
Mixed Media & Ballpoint Pen on Panel
Completed January 2026
At the heart of Majestic Ratios is the enduring relationship between mathematics and the natural world. Built upon the principles of the Golden Ratio—a proportion found throughout nature, classical architecture and Renaissance art—the composition explores the hidden geometry that underpins beauty, balance and life itself.
A powerful snow leopard emerges from the composition, captured in astonishing detail using James Mylne’s signature ballpoint pen technique. Simultaneously fierce and serene, the animal becomes a symbol of nature’s strength, elegance and fragility. Surrounding it are lilies, ornamental flourishes, koi carp, sacred iconography and contemporary graphic interventions, each layer representing the meeting point between the organic and the man-made, the ancient and the modern.
The work invites the viewer to look beyond its immediate realism and discover an intricate visual ecosystem, where every element exists in harmony with the next. Nothing is placed arbitrarily; each form, curve and negative space has been carefully orchestrated according to the Golden Ratio, creating a composition that feels instinctively balanced long before its underlying structure is recognised.
Entirely hand-crafted over more than six weeks, the artwork combines meticulous ballpoint pen rendering with richly layered mixed media, demanding extraordinary patience and technical precision. Mylne’s ability to merge hyperrealistic drawing with symbolic, decorative and contemporary visual language creates a work that rewards prolonged viewing, continually revealing new relationships and subtle details.
Majestic Ratios is ultimately a meditation on harmony—the invisible order that connects mathematics, nature and artistic creation. It reminds us that beneath the apparent complexity of the natural world lies a profound and universal balance.
Both technically extraordinary and conceptually rich, Majestic Ratios exemplifies James Mylne’s unique ability to transform the humble ballpoint pen into a medium capable of producing museum-quality contemporary art, where precision, symbolism and beauty coexist in perfect equilibrium.
Ballpoint pen, acrylic paint, spray paint, markers and paint stick. Fixative applied.
Size: 82 x 59cm (framed size)
This print is from a 107 hours drawing of Audrey Hepburn as a Royal Navy officer done in ballpoint & marker pen. It's part of a banknote artwork series (prints from both other series are sold out).
Limited edition of 40
Giclee print on Fine Art Rag,
60 x 56cm
Numbered & Signed + COA provided
Originally...The original artwork from which the prints came (sold) was a ballpoint pen drawing over a Prada shopping bag, a full video showing the process is on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WSYxfydZ8G4
The artwork is part of the "OnLuxBag" series, which is about subverting the designer label's advertising & marketing implications and place in our society.
The artwork shows a version of the famous Venus painting, but as a marble statue. The head has been split, with half over the PRADA logo.
The meaning is that her mind is split on the luxury branding and designer brands 'thing'. She appreciates well designed, good quality products, but at the same time disapproves of the egocentric and narcissistic attitudes and practices associated with it.