Pencil Artist of the Week: Ryan LeJarde

This week’s featured pencil artist is Ryan LeJarde, a pencil artist we discovered through Instagram. His Instagram profile is filled with his completed drawings and works in progress, giving us a look at how he works and how his drawings develop. Most of the drawings he posts are done in pencil, and every drawing showcases his skill as an artist.

I had the opportunity to speak with Ryan about why he started drawing and who his inspirations are:

“I started off studying architecture during high school for 4 years then transitioned to both architecture and graphic design in NYiT.  It was only until after I graduated that I became more and more interested in the gallery arts.  One of the first fine artists I really read about was Basquiat and the first contemporary painters’ work I’ve seen in Chelsea NY was hyperrealist artist Damien Loeb.  Two high artists I admire among a laundry list. Fringe artists that have gone on their own beaten path like Dash Snow (RIP) and David Choe are ones I still look up to today since high school.”

He later went on to describe his creative process, and why he has begun to transition back to using graphite pencils.

“I forced myself to use pen back in the days and threw out all graphite tools after being burnt out from using them on blueprint designs.  I used the most base office supply gear as my arsenal back then.  As far as my process is concerned, I tend to draw on tracing paper as it has nice translucent properties you don’t see in other drawing surfaces.  There’s a ghostly ephemera to it that most people dismiss based on its primary function that I like to take advantage of.  The surface area is smooth enough to draw quickly on and I like the idea of fading and “squeegeeing” art. Lately I’ve been trying to find a synergy between graphite and eraser and Palomino pencils have been a good weapon of choice.”

Drawings by Pencil Artist Ryan LeJarde

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“Ghostly ephemera” might be one of the best ways we’ve had an artist describe his or her style. We just hope Ryan’s art doesn’t fade back into the aether anytime soon.

For more art by Ryan, follow him on Instagram @ryanlejarde. And don’t forget to follow Pencils.com @pencilscom!