There is a slightly odd feeling that comes with seeing your work in a national newspaper. One minute you are at the table, slowly building shadows with a ballpoint pen. The next, you are being introduced to readers as “Bicasso” or “Penbrandt”.

On 15 August 2026, both The Daily Record and The Daily Star ran a story about me and my ballpoint drawings. I had been contacted by reporter Samantha Yule, who interviewed me about my artistic journey, why I use ballpoint pens, and how the drawings actually come together.

As newspaper stories often do, the finished pieces kept things brief. The deeper parts of the conversation were trimmed down into a few snippets, and the headlines leaned into the fun nicknames. That is fair enough. It was all good natured, and it was still a real pleasure to see the artwork reach a wider audience.

Being called Bicasso and Penbrandt

The nicknames are cringy but made me smile.

“Bicasso” is the obvious one, a play on Bic and Picasso. “Penbrandt” follows the same idea, nodding to Rembrandt through the humble pen. They are light-hearted, memorable, and very much the sort of shorthand newspapers enjoy.

It was not mocking the work. It was simply presenting it in the brisk, bright way tabloids often do.

Even though the pieces were brief, I was genuinely pleased to be featured. Thanks out to Sam @ TrueStories2000

The coverage in The Daily Mirror and The Daily Star was not a full artistic profile, and it was never going to be. It was a quick public glimpse. A friendly nod. A bit of fun. And in the middle of that, the drawings had their moment.

A small press clipping in a much longer journey

Seeing that work mentioned in the national press was lovely. Seeing it dressed up with daft nicknames was part of the fun. The articles may have skimmed the surface, but they also brought more eyes to the drawings, and I am grateful for that.

The real work continues in the same place it always has, one sheet of paper, one pen, and one mark at a time.