Darkening Things Up

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco – 17-07-25’ is all about darkening things up. Model Assia turned up in front of Ergy Landau’s camera in extreme dark and light tones this time. I simply love them! After last drawing I was wondering what I could do next to pay tribute to them both. The Assia series is beginning to grow steadily. However, I keep on naming them ‘Neo Deco’. There is a good reason for that. My regular model and Nina (series) I know personally. As to Assia I only pay homage to a model long gone now and a full array of lovely photographers. They deserve all the credits even though I apply my own vision and style. Hence under the name ‘Neo Deco’ which I think it still is a good title to describe my cubist-like work.

A Big Black Ball

The fluffiness of last one I quite liked and I thought to emulate that in this drawing as well. Soon I found out that proved to be much of a drag. The thing is her hair looked a bit funny with some atypical protrusions. Her face is hidden in an almost perfect blackness. That’s a tall order to render it in a light and abstract way. Therefor I decided to darken up the Ingres paper almost to the max in the relevant sections. There’s a risk involved naturally and that is to copy what’s already there. No use in search for my value to add so I decided to alter a couple of things. I actually give her some facial features even though lurking in the dark. The folds in the cloth she is sitting on I skipped. Instead, a big black ball, symbolizing Assia’s roundness!

Graphite pencil (Faber Castell, Pitt Graphite Matt, 14B) drawing on Fabriano Ingres paper (21 x 28.2 x 0.1 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers