This graphite pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco – 16-03-26’ is the fourth in my series of square-format female nude drawings. A rather refined cubist styling. In fact, it didn’t need much styling because the pose was already striking on its own. Last one was complex and full of pockets of light and dark I could get hold of. This pose offers a different perspective thought. Soft tonal gradients between the lighlights to the left and darker regions to the right. Somehow I didn’t feel the inclination to cup the model’s breasts with harsh and dark pencil strokes. It would have only ruined the subtlety of the tonal shifts. However, I did feel some uncomfortableness as soon as I had laid down the delineations of the model’s proportions. How to move from there? For many people such as my students an absolute horror but for me nothing but heaven.
Contrasts in Soft and Harsh
Personally I like discomfort because I know that’s where an artist can operate on the cutting edge. After all, what good may come if no effort is acquired and to search for something new? Execution only would turn me into a dull boy. Luckily for me artist from the past come to my aid. Last weekend I visited Magico! In Museum More. There I saw Italian artists, mostly from the Interbellum. They presented their work. Portraits and nudes - in both harsh contour delineations and softer ones. That inspired me to sketch harsh contour lines in the outer delineations and keep the inner delineations quite soft. That did the trick. Last but not least, the suggested arch serves as a dome holding all elements together. Naturally, it serves as an ode to the art deco period too.
Graphite pencil (Faber Castell, Pitt Graphite Matt, 14B) drawing on Talens paper (21 x 21 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers
