The Matchbox Kingdom

A photo detailed ballpoint pen drawing in a sketchbook depicting a sleeping fairy on a matchbox, surrounded by an assembled army of mice. The fairy lies peacefully under a blanket with her wings visible, her discarded clothes on the floor beside the matchbox. A cherry sits nearby, remnants of her dinner. Around her, an intricate mouse civilization has gathered: a shaman mouse observes her intently, soldier mice display varied reactions of fear and uncertainty, a female priest mouse stands with her servants gesturing to others as if announcing a prophecy. Additional details include a soldier mouse with a lizard familiar wearing a belt and carrying gears, and another mouse mounted atop a small passerine bird. The composition is densely detailed with numerous characters and interactions filling the space around the central sleeping figure, all rendered in black ballpoint pen with no preliminary sketch.

The Matchbox Kingdom

30 march 2026

This entire piece was drawn freehand with a ballpoint pen (no pencil pre-sketch underneath). I started with the fairy sleeping on the matchbox and just... let the story unfold as I drew.

Each detail, the mice soldiers, the shaman, the priest with her servants, the lizard with its tiny belt and gears, the bird with its rider... they all appeared naturally as I went. It's like the world built itself around her. There's something magical about working that way; you're discovering the story at the same time your hand is creating it.

But... four hours!

That's how long I was stuck at the train station of Montpelier Saint-Roch (France) yesterday because of a massive fire near the railway in Sète city. I was coming back from the workshops and signing sessions at Monistrol sur Loire (It was nice!).

So, nothing to do but sit and sketch, especially because I wanted to economize my phone battery in case the duration expanded further. That's when this piece came to life, and it felt to me like a good reminder that all I need to live my passion is a cheap sketchbook, a ballpoint pen, and time.

Three travelers in the same situation as me yesterday also stuck at the train station came to chat a bit about what I was drawing, and they started to follow my work. I told them I'll post the result. Now you know why I scanned this one and wrote this blog post!

If you want to know more about the details of this improvisation, here is my reading of the final picture: the fairy came with her cherry dinner and curled up to sleep under a cozy blanket in a matchbox, her clothes scattered on the floor beside the box. But while she slept, an entire mouse kingdom and army discovered her. There's a shaman observing this unusual creature carefully, is it a bad omen? I liked the contrast between weird design for the mouse expression and the more classic 'sleeping beauty' design for the fairy. Many mice are uncertain how to react to this strange intruder in their territory, a female priest mouse (near the shaman) with her servants who seems to recognize something prophetic about this arrival (they hold tiny frame with the silhouette of a fairy on it) looks like alerting all of them to not wake up her. One soldier has a lizard familiar wearing a belt and carrying stuff, and another rides atop a small bird...

Well, there is even more, but I let you discover it. Every character has a reaction, a role, a story. That's part of the fun of making this type of artwork!

Authenticity disclaimer: the picture is a montage, not a 'real photo', it was made from the compositing of a high resolution scanner of my sketchbook, on the top of a photo of an empty double page of my sketchbook. Check the layered source file if you want to see how it is done. This is a common practice on social media for artists since decades. Why not taking directly a photo? That's because taking a good one with so many details (texture and subtle grayscales, etc...) is near to impossible for my cheap camera. The irony: this compositing looks exactly like the real thing, but you'll have to take my words for it.

Artwork source and full resolution here

Did you know? Ballpoint pens can leave blobs of inks here and there, especially after a long subtle crosshatching. They are easy to locate and anticipate; usually they appear on the 'other side' of the ball tip of the pen. But if you want to improve the absorbtion of the paper of the sketchbook, here is a tip: simply find a cardboard box larger than your sketchbook, and buy a pack of cat-litter (you can choose the perfume of your choice). Pour the grainny texture of clay on the bottom of the box, to form a layer, then put the sketchbook on it, before totally recovering it with cat litter. Leave it for 15 days to allow the chemical reaction between the components of the cat litter and the paper to occur. After that, dust your sketchbook and voilà! This tip can make thin paper, like 80 g/m² sketchbook paper, resistant to most liquid media, which is economical as you won't need to buy watercolour paper afterwards.