Consumption November, 2022 17x19" Media: fine liner, alcohol marker, liquid watercolor, gel pen, watercolor paper
This is about when others consume someone's ideas. Sometimes if you are an artist or something similar your livelihood depends on producing creativity or maybe you produce creativity at a greater cost to you than what you get in return and you become exhausted. I wanted to convey the idea of consuming with a woman wearing a helmet surrounding their entire head with tubes. The woman cradles a plant with lightbulbs on it, representing her ideas, and they along with her mind are being harvested. Her eyes are covered and the helmet has light bulb eyes being charged by her ideas to show that her emotions are hidden while the demanding machine maintains control.
I began by sketching out the outline of the shape and then I used fine liner pens, mainly blue on the woman and red on the helmet, but as I colored it in I added more blue details on the helmet for more definition and contrast. I used hatching and cross contour lines to define shape and perspective on the helmet and body. I mainly used marker to create form with different values of blue and red to bring the objects forward and create simple contrast and unity throughout the piece. Some white gel pen details served to create emphasis for the helmet eyes. I finally added the lime green watercolor background for an eerie contrast that I felt matched the other-worldly objects.