Ex-con-turned-artist showcases ballpoint pen work

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Inside a Brooklyn church-turned-exhibit, artist Guy Woodward's story unfolds like a good book. Guy's technique isn't by choice. It's been by necessity. Using ballpoint pen like a paintbrush is what a supply-deprived artist does behind bars.

It's the attention to detail. His extreme nearsightedness that magnifies the smallest mark and eventually economics. He says he started with checks -- he could copy anything. The older and the better he got, so did the stakes. He'd pocket millions through his counterfeit schemes. He had homes in multiple states and more cars than he could drive. After years on the run, the feds caught up to him.

While locked up, from 7 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. he would draw. Different rules in different prisons. In the end, he learned how to do it all with a ballpoint pen. The warden at Otisville told him he'd be famous someday and gave him his own work space.

Inside the work became an escape. The faces he'd draw -- some taking months -- were like companions, providing an outlet to a man with a wealth of talent.

He has been home since July 2015 when he walked out the prison gate he took his portfolio with him. After 3 trips behind bars totaling almost 10 years of his life he's at peace as an artist.