Development + Drawings PART 2

I wanted to do some composition work by halving the body of my subject (being Deba Hekmat). At first I chose to use my alcohol markers but they created unwanted streaks which is unusual because they mostly blend in easily. To fix it I used acrylics because I haven't used it in a long time. However, halfway through painting I realised I wasn't getting 'into it' at all, in fact you can tell that there was no desire to use that media as my paint strokes where terrible. I felt unmotivated by my initial idea, so I decided to do something different.

I looked around my room for different materials and all I had was a limited source of coloured paper, brown paper, and fabrics. I wanted to get creative so I chose a bright piece of yellow paper as I knew I liked the idea of contrast between colours in all of my art pieces. I also opted for brown cardboard paper, as I can layer these and the media would look different on all of the materials used. Knowing I can be free to dictate what I want helped me complete this piece, as I was having fun and taking my time on it. 

The main message is that "This is beauty too." This shows that we don't need to be caged in to what our society says is attractive or appealing, beauty comes in many forms and colours. My aim was to display Deba's beauty through my eyes and hopefully encourage my audience that being different is not bad. This series may help people of all ages and ethnic groups to feel less judged and comfortable in their own bodies. 

Final Outcome

For my final outcome, I used the Meitu editing app to make it look more complete and most importantly to fix my statement. I first wrote it in soft pastel, but things got messy as I was touching up the details. So I used a colour picker to erase the writing and put my words into a nice, clear font to make it understandable and noticeable due to it's vivid yellow colour. Overall, I'm really happy with this piece as Deba's pose is already empowering with her arms folded up to show strength and her vulnerability and the same time, because it's not easy to expose yourself to the whole world. Perfection is something we all strive whether we notice it or not, the key is to define your own meaning of perfection.

Throughout my experimentation and development, I noticed that I was using a lot of yellow, I didn't know if that was my subconscious mind or whether it was deliberate, but there's clearly a pattern with this series of work. Yellow can have many meanings, but the most common one is associated with happiness, positivity, and optimism. This is exactly how I want to portray my art in terms of the Body and Skin positivity movement. Perhaps this colour can be the main thing that ties this series together, and I will make some deliberate decisions for my other final pieces.

Reference photo: 

(No artist/photographer tagged)

P.S This is another reason why this project is dear to me. Because this is the abuse people get just from expressing themselves. 

Bourn, J., 2021. Meaning of The Color Yellow |. [online] Bourn Creative. Available at: <https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-yellow/#:~:text=Yellow%2C%20the%20color%20of%20sunshine%2C%20hope%2C%20and%20happiness%2C,on%20the%20other%2C%20it%20represents%20cowardice%20and%20deceit.> [Accessed 3 February 2021].

Instagram. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/p/B9exq9cBrct/> [Accessed 3 February 2021].