Often, when you create art, you look back at a piece and realize that you could have done something a lot different to it to make it better. Regret is always a part of the game in artwork; you look at a drawing or painting later on, and think, I should have done this.I first joined Model Mayhem back in 2006, and met some great models immediately One of them was a curvaceous lady known on MM as Iday. I was drawn to her portfolio, not only because of her near-nude images and great figure, but her exotic Middle Eastern looks as well. We messaged back and forth about me using one of her images as a reference, finally deciding on the photo to the right.
My challenge in this drawing was the rope skirt. I frankly didn't know how I was going to pull it off, so, after thinking it over for a few days, I decided that I was going to ditch it and draw her wearing something sexy (she didn't want to be depicted nude at all). I decided to leave it until after I completed most of the top portion.
I printed up my reference and got to work, and have to say, I was really happy with the direction that this drawing was taking. When you are a pinup artist, you don't want to screw up something that God created so beautifully, and Iday's gorgeous form was emerging from the background nicely (see WIP below).As I got to her hips and legs, I discovered that my original plan just wasn't going to be as simple as I thought. I had enough of a sense of Iday's hips and legs through the macrame skirt to draw them, but I just wasn't happy with something about it. I wound up putting a little thong thing on her, but I was disappointed in myself. I had the drawing professionally shot when I finished, and sent Iday a print as a thank you.
I've had several years to review what I did on this drawing, and I concluded that I should have left the rope skirt on Iday, as they accentuated her hips quite nicely. I realize now they would not have proved to be as troublesome as I originally thought, and I could have used a design element to make them look kind of cool. As I said, Iday has a gorgeous, curvy figure, and great camera presence. I know I could do this over, and perhaps one day I will. See the full size version at me Fine Art America website.
Good for you! I love this as a full nude. The model has the most lush curves, and you really do her figure justice when you uncover it. How interesting that this all goes along with the necessity we encounter so often to justify our nude work. This shows why nudity sometimes communicates in a more classic and classy way (and here it absolutely creates something timeless) and may be the only way something magical and universal about the human being can be expressed.
ReplyDeleteAs I read through your struggle and scrolled down to the work-in-progress at the bottom, I thought to myself that could have been an answer. I zoomed in and saw it needed to be "filled in" more (the thumbnail did not reveal this) but I really liked the thumbnail and how the lower torso fades to the imagination...
ReplyDeleteShe has beautiful curves, Carla, which if you look at her MM profile--I ell in love with them. That rope skirt accentuated them wll, and I just think I messed it up. I didn't get the legs right at all.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit on something, Alex Fan. Sometimes, the WIP images are great unfinished, because of what it left to the imagination. I love images that emerge from the background (I'm a big fan of Ingres, who was a remarkable draftsman). In this case, with the hips incomplete, it draws attention, and using the rope skirt instead of thongs, the same effect could have been accomplished
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