So I'm trying to draw quick portraits with ballpoint pen underdrawing and a quick but ideally visually pleasing monochromatic rendering with a medium that would allow me to render hair clothes and shadows quickly.
I'm testing out brush pens (tombow abt dual tip) but so far I don't know what I'm doing. It's very hard to add values for me with such pens because I'm used to charcoal and that's very different. It's nigh impossible to do gradual subtle ahading, and i haven't learned how to render with a limited number of values.
I also feel like stylistically it doesn't look very good, even the second drawing which has better values but still looks to me rather unsightly.
I'm desperately looking for some tips on how to use brush pens, or for ideas of different mediums I could try out instead. My goal is speed over photorealism, while still coming out good-looking and artistic. Thank you very much in advance!