Sharpie Art on a Styrofoam Cup

Life is great when you’re able to turn “a little too much time on your hands” into a business opportunity that pays hundreds of dollars for your doodles. And while many artists make their living with traditional media like oils on canvas, or watercolors on paper, this one makes his living with Sharpies on Styrofoam cups

They’re gorgeous: intricate black and white drawings that circle around the cup to tell a story with no beginning or end. Pointillistic drawings of people and animals, Japanese woodcut-style oceans of swirling waves, and playful vignettes of people in everyday activities. They can take hours or months to create: Cheeming Boey drinks out of the rejects and sells his best ones between $120 and $220 at a fine art gallery in Laguna Beach, California.

Some might raise their eyebrow at his medium which gets a bad rap in this environmentally aware society because polystyrene foam never biodegrades.  But, as Boey said in an interview with the The Orange Country Register, “These cups last thousands of years, and my Sharpie says it’s permanent ink. These things are going to last generations. It’s archival material.” He also draws more temporary art – on bananas.

See more photos of Boey and his work in this gallery at The Orange Country Register or check out his entire Styrofoam Cup collection on Boey’s Flickr page

Tags: Just For Fun!, sharpie markers, styrofoam cups, Video, YouTube