Art · Sketches

Admiring a more mature and grounded Chloe Elfrain

Today, I have a much shorter art post for you than last time. Harkening back to the end of my last post, I want to focus on just a single piece this time. This way, I can keep these a little more succinct or focus on saying more about each piece individually. Thankfully, with the previous post, it was mostly sketches and smaller pieces so I was able to say all I needed to about most them. However, if they had all been full on illustrations, it might have made for too long of a post.

Chloe Elfrain, herself.

Graphite on Canvas Paper, 2018

In a way that was reminiscent of Jake Fox, Burning Internally, I opted to forgo any consistency in Chloe’s design for this drawing. Instead, I focused on capturing the feeling of her character. Chloe is a character who learns who she is early on in her life. Her resolve and sense of self are undaunted. Like the earth beneath her feet, she is grounded and nothing can shake her resolve to live her life in whatever way she sees fit. This aspect of her personality is part of what grants her an unlimited power to overcome any adversity or obstacle that dares to challenge her.

About this piece

In college, I faced some of the stereotypical “stop drawing anime” advice that a lot of art professors are fond of doling out for some reason. Though I drew this many years since finishing school, it was still a way of rebelling and unlearning some of that advice that I absorbed. For this particular sketch, I began with the eyes and worked my way out from there. I wanted to give Chloe exaggerated, pretty anime eyes. I don’t normally draw eyeshadow on her, but it felt appropriate with the rest of the drawing.

From there, I moved on to her other features. These, I kept fairly in-line with her character. Thick lips. Chubby cheeks. My aim was to impart a certain “softness” to her character. Her hair, which I normally give a spiky appearance to, I drew with rounded tips instead. Then I moved on to her body. Chloe is fat. Chloe is beautiful. Plain and simple. I want Chloe and the rest of the women in my cast of characters to be people that my readers can see themselves in and feel seen. There isn’t a lot else that needs to be said about it. After that, I drew on some piercings to give her that punk look. Finally, it’s a bit of an afterthought, but I couldn’t resist the urge to show off her tongue piercing in the corner there.

I can’t say for certain that I won’t draw Chloe differently in the years to come. However, I can say that she will always be drawn as someone who’s in the present, unhindered by the world around her.

This sketch was drawn on a sheet of Canson Artist Series Canva paper with Staedtler Mars Lumograph HB graphite pencil.

Still feeling this art post thing out

Putting this post together, it feels as if this was maybe too few works? For the previous art post, I really enjoyed setting things up as a little gallery of sorts. The main problem with that post is that it felt like too many pieces to write about in one go.

As such:

1. I started to lose interest in it towards the end. No Bueno

and

2. If I’d had a lot more to say about those pieces, I could have possibly ended up writing a thesis length post on all of them. Doble No Bueno.

For my next post, I’ll try a different number of drawings and see how things turn out. I want to try and strike a good balance between the artworks themselves and what I write about them. Speaking as someone who definitely checks for pictures in their books, I can see how walls of text can be a turn-off to some readers.

Thanks for reading,

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