Title: Not Sick Enough Size: 22 cm x 26.5 cm Medium: Colored Pencils Completion: December 2022 - Exhibition Text-
'700' and its second part, 'Not Sick Enough', are self made illustration pieces using colored pencil on paper. The pieces are inspired by contemporary American artist Jenna Simon. This piece is meant to add one more perspective to my pieces about my experience with disordered eating and anorexia- more specifically, the refusal to eat altogether.
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- Inspiration -
Artist in focus: Jenna Simon
Jenna Simon is a contemporary American artist whose primary focus is her own struggles with disordered eating and anxiety. Her art was made for healing purposes and happened to blow up over social media. She uses graphite to produce realistic images. Her use of only graphite gives her illustrations a very low contrast, as well as depletes them of any color. She gives her illustrations depth and realism using only graphite using different textures such and hair and skin, applying different levels of pressures in order to achieve this. I liked her art mostly because of the message it conveyed, and decided I also wanted to replicate her style visually.
- Process -
For this piece, I had already planned out the composition and layout in my sketchbook. This piece was cut out of a collection, which I decided to re-add. I wanted this piece to depict me, looking very distressed, pushing away or refusing a bowl of food. I thought that me being in the piece would make it more personal, and powerful in the message I was trying to convey. I set up my desk to take the photo. I played around with lighting until I found one that kept my face well-lit while also making it appear shaded. I borrowed an empty pasta bowl from my kitchen and set up my camera so that it wasn't obvious that the bowl was empty.
After taking my reference photos, I applied a grid to the image I liked best and copied down my outline onto my paper. From there, I started to color in the face. For this illustration, as well as the two that came before it, I kept it black and white and used grey, white, and black colored pencils to shade in my drawing. I did this to be able to focus more on the depth and texture of what I was drawing rather than the color. I started coloring in the right side of the face, then moving towards the chin and then back out to the right side of the face. I used an eraser to highlight the outside of the lips to make it appear raised. The nose was something I struggled with- I have a very long and pointy nose and that point is something I always have trouble with conveying in my artwork.
The next part of this piece was the neck and chest area. I started off by making a very thin outline of all the shadows and highlights in my piece. I then went in with the dark grey and black colored pencil in order to draw in the darkest shadows, down the middle of the chest, along the ribcage and shoulder blade, and by the armpit. I then applied less pressure as I moved outwards in order to give the appearance of soft lighting. After having a base of highlights and shadows done, I went back in with the grey and white in order to make highlights along the chest where bones were. For the tank top I am wearing, I simply blocked all of it in with a light layer of black and filled it in and blended with the darker grey.
After this, I moved on to the arm and hands of the piece. I started off with the right hand in the image, pushing away the food. I started off by using the dark grey to draw in any folds and bends in the hand where it might be shaded. I then used the light grey in order to fill in the rest of the spots that the light hit normally. I used the black colored pencil and eraser later on to add more detail. For the left arm and hand, I applied the same technique, starting with the shadows using the dark grey colored pencil, and then getting lighter in pressure and switching to a lighter shade of grey. While shading in the hand, I realized that the face was slightly lighter than the rest of the body, but decided to leave it be.
The hair in this piece was something that was very intimidating to start. I began by outlining certain chucks and strands of the hair in order to give me more direction when drawing the individual hairs. I made a very faint outline of where the highlight of the hair would lie, and in those areas, used only the light grey colored pencil and applied very little pressure. Because my hair wasn't perfect in the photo, I went back in to add loose strands and messy chunks. For the ponytail, I outlined every chunk of hair and blocked in all the colors, then went back in with the black and dark grey colored pencil in order to get the hair texture that I wanted. After this, I finished off the piece by shading in and completing small details like the bowl and desk.
- Critique -
Similarities include:
- Lack of color. Both pieces were done in a medium that didn't allow for color. The black and white for me was an intentional choice that related to the message of my piece, as well as create a visual theme between the two drawings.
- Use of realism. Both Simon's pieces and my own use realism, with depth, shadows, and a variety of tones that create a more obvious message, rather than the use of abstraction to convey those themes.
- Theme and message. My work as well as Jenna's have to do with the experience of anorexia, body dysmorphia, and mental illness as a whole. These pieces in particular both use imagery of the body to convey that message.
Differences include:
- Medium used. Simon used only graphite in her artwork, giving it less flexibility in the tones she portrays. I used grey and black colored pencils, allowing me to achieve darker tones.
- Contrast and Depth. Because of this difference in medium, my piece is much more contrasted with its shadows than Simons work.
-Intention of artwork. Simon made her piece to convey the struggles of body dysmorphia, while this piece focuses more on intentional starvation.
- ACT Connections -
1) Clearly explain how you were able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your art?
My inspiration very directly connects to my piece even at first glace, because of the very similar mediums, as well as the theme of both pieces being eating disorders, mental health, and anorexia.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Jenna Simon created her artwork surrounding eating disorders as a way to express her own feelings and vent through art. While my art takes a different approach, I understand her motives in created her pieces.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was artwork that related to disordered eating and anorexia. While I typically use painters, and more specifically from the 18th-20th century, Simons artwork stood out to me.
5.) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that art can contain very powerful messages that not only evoke feeling in people, but can also give people new perspectives and maybe even more empathy for those suffering from eating disorders.
My inspiration very directly connects to my piece even at first glace, because of the very similar mediums, as well as the theme of both pieces being eating disorders, mental health, and anorexia.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Jenna Simon created her artwork surrounding eating disorders as a way to express her own feelings and vent through art. While my art takes a different approach, I understand her motives in created her pieces.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my research was artwork that related to disordered eating and anorexia. While I typically use painters, and more specifically from the 18th-20th century, Simons artwork stood out to me.
5.) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that art can contain very powerful messages that not only evoke feeling in people, but can also give people new perspectives and maybe even more empathy for those suffering from eating disorders.
- Citations -
Jenna Simon, 2014, graphite on paper