Return to the Female Form
This graphite pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco – 03-08-23’ is a return to the female form. After a couple of celebrity portraits I felt it was time to do a nude again. The fact that I received a wonderful picture from a follower of my artworks online also helped. It depicts his wife. Their dream was to be portrayed in a way similar to the one I did back in June. As a matter of principle, I have nothing against women who volunteer to be drawn by me. Therefore, the decision to move ahead was easy.
Sui Generis
Not that I commence right away. The model has to be a good one. Not everybody can strike a pose I like and the opposite naturally is true. Not everybody likes my style or approach. That’s why the relationship between model and artist is ‘sui generis’, a world on its own. The match has to be perfect. In fact, in this particular case that was true. Even though I didn’t see her in the flesh. The reason was the reference photo was a good one. She is standing in front of a window. I must say, the sheer curtains matched the hefty tonal play on her body perfectly.
Sheerness
The scenery reminded me to my drawing ‘Sheer Deco Nude – 14-10-22’ of last year. After my love for shiny satin I celebrated sheer fabrics engirding bodyshapes in that one. In both drawings a darker body seems sandwiched between two sides of fluffy light structures. Basically, this time I wanted to combine the principles of round and straight structures with sheer fabrics. See what that would bring me.
Let It Breathe
After capturing proportions I set out to darken body structures. However, I soon realized doing too much would make it appear to become lumpy again. It’s something I try to avoid of late more often. The lower leg for example I left open so it could breathe straight into the negative space. It’s similar to what I did in Veronica Lake’s drawing. Hence contrasts between curtains and body are preserved but they also flow into eachother. It almost has an impressionist feel to it.
Graphite pencil (Faber Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil 14B) drawing on Fabriano Ingres paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers
