My Creative Process
Inspiration
My inspiration draws from my own curiosity and interests.
I've always been interested in sexual wellness and relationships, but I realized I've been ignoring the one foundational piece that both areas have in common: intimacy. I know intimacy is not limited to romance and sex, in fact it holds many types of relationships together, but I wanted to explore these relationships and discover intimacy in a different area: the art itself.
Techniques
Charcoal
The star of the show! I learned how to use this medium quickly and became comfortable with it. I had previous experience with graphite but it never gave me the satisfying feeling of smudge control. Using black and white charcoal allowed me to display more drama between light and shadows.
Figure Drawing
To use charcoal, I had to understand the best types of imagery the tool displays. I found many images depicting anatomy and nudity were drawn with charcoal, and it worked perfectly for a topic like intimacy.
Time Management
I never have trouble with staying focused on my work. I know when to allocate time and when to stop drawing to avoid a burnout and create some issues I'd have to deal with later; the last thing I'd want to force myself to be creativity but waste my time making mistakes I couldn't afford to fix in the future. However, this process was stressful because it relied on the availability of others, as I had to find a couple who'd be willing to be vulnerable and commit to taking photos that I'd eventually draw. It took me a while to find the couple, as in beginning of April, so as soon as I received a confirmation and photos, I made sure to waste no time on this project.
Killing My Darlings
If I'm being honest, the imagery depicted in the final project wasn't what I originally planned for. I described to the couple the exact poses and positioning of the body I wanted, but they chose to do their own thing. I had to kill my initial darling but the final depiction worked. In fact, I think that allowing the couple to choose their own pose that they're comfortable with is more authentic than my original plan and shows their true intimacy between each other as partners.
