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Description
2022

In July, a local gallery, was having an 80s themed show - to enter you had to have at least one piece that fit the theme. I racked my brain for too long trying to decide what to do. No way was I going to go with some completely obvious 80s cliche, and more importantly it had to fit within my influences and style. Originally I wanted to do some fashion illustration, probably something Vivienne Westwood, but I couldn't find a reference image that felt right. So I started looking through books I had on hand. That's when I found my copies of Heavy Metal magazine, two of which fit into the decade. I love this kind of fantasy artwork, so, it was perfect. This is the cover for December 1980, done originally by Chris Achilléos ("Elle") , albeit more covered up because the gallery won't let me show mild female nudity. He also did the iconic HM movie poster. It's interesting how if you look at all the HM covers, there seem to be different eras, and some more female nude heavy - the late 90s/Y2k was very much of the T&A style ifyouknowwhatImean, but early issues and current issues not so much. Even the pin up-esques of the 80s, like this, feel more tastefully done.

I did this piece with a combination of watercolor pencils, water color markers, and black ink and white gel pens. My process involved doing the sketch with a light grey watercolor pencil rather than a regular pencil. This allowed me to play with the linework as I started to fill it in - apply water, smear it around, fade it out, and no eraser marks and scratchy pencil work left in the end. It's probably the most meticulous drawing I've done in a long time, and I'd like to do more projects playing with these mediums and really taking my time.

Description
2022

In July, a local gallery, was having an 80s themed show - to enter you had to have at least one piece that fit the theme. I racked my brain for too long trying to decide what to do. No way was I going to go with some completely obvious 80s cliche, and more importantly it had to fit within my influences and style. Originally I wanted to do some fashion illustration, probably something Vivienne Westwood, but I couldn't find a reference image that felt right. So I started looking through books I had on hand. That's when I found my copies of Heavy Metal magazine, two of which fit into the decade. I love this kind of fantasy artwork, so, it was perfect. This is the cover for December 1980, done originally by Chris Achilléos ("Elle") , albeit more covered up because the gallery won't let me show mild female nudity. He also did the iconic HM movie poster. It's interesting how if you look at all the HM covers, there seem to be different eras, and some more female nude heavy - the late 90s/Y2k was very much of the T&A style ifyouknowwhatImean, but early issues and current issues not so much. Even the pin up-esques of the 80s, like this, feel more tastefully done.

I did this piece with a combination of watercolor pencils, water color markers, and black ink and white gel pens. My process involved doing the sketch with a light grey watercolor pencil rather than a regular pencil. This allowed me to play with the linework as I started to fill it in - apply water, smear it around, fade it out, and no eraser marks and scratchy pencil work left in the end. It's probably the most meticulous drawing I've done in a long time, and I'd like to do more projects playing with these mediums and really taking my time.