Original artwork description:

A New Model

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Nina – 09-08-23’ marks something new. Not the style though. That more or less is my newly found neo deco. It’s all about the model. About two weeks ago somebody on deviantart replied to my last oil ‘Neo Deco – 30-07-23’. That person happened to be a model under the name ‘NinaErotique’. You know by now I’m not into sleazy, unartistic nudes. I’m here on earth to celebrate nudity forged by higher beings as the pinnacle of beauty. Not my words but communis opinio amongst artists at the turn of the 20th century. Apparently she happens to think the same way. The result is a beautiful array of tasteful pictures. Some are nudes, other are about fashion and a bit of glamour on the side.

Clothed

She has a lovely body and appearance. However, first I was touched by a photo of her sitting wearing a sheer negligee. She has great long auburn hair flowing down from her head into curly structures. Her face ‘en profil’ looks very angelic. You’ve got to embrace happiness when it present itself. Consequently this one had to be the first work I created of her. Even though the artistic motif has a lot of muted lighting the background sets her off perfectly. So, there you have it: all the fine ingredients to create a work of art. Then again, artistic troubles are bound …

Tonal Troubles

When you set out to draw or paint it’s all about measuring proportions. Get them right, tweaking them anatomically. Often I can spot some cubist forms I can play with right away. This time there was no exception to these principles. However, I soon realized the hair, attire, facial expressions were only depicted in the smallest of tonal bandwidths. In the statement to my last drawing I expressed my concerns about forms becoming too lumpy. Hence, I took extra care to avoid that at all costs.

Let It Breathe

This time also I let positive forms breathe into the negative space. Next to this I kept the overall tonality not so low, resulting in a lighter depiction than the motif itself. Last but not least, I only applied a mild cubist styling. The forms the hair, face and negligee offered were so hybrid that I didn’t dare to abstract them too much. Nevertheless my hand is recognizable and so is Nina.

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

Materials used:

Pitt Graphite Matt pencil (Faber-Castell) drawing on Fabriano Ingres paper (21 x 28.2 x 0.1 cm)

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