Gangsta's Doll

Gangsta's Doll
This started out as just going to be a couple of individual figure painting studies, but seemed to take on a life of its own.

I found a site, sketchdaily, http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en, that has figure poses action/passive, or clothed/nude, you pretty much dial in what you want.  I want to get better at figures and really I haven't drawn a lot of men, so thought this would give me some needed practice.  Since I wanted to get better at fabrics I saw these two shots (see below) and thought I would give them a whirl.  As I got to looking at them the first thing I thought was 1920-1930s and gangsters.  The girl I thought could be turned into a perfect flapper with just a few touches.  Then because I thought they might work well together I needed some way to tie them together and so tried to bring in the feeling of a speakeasy.

I started the concept on an 18'x22" canvas board just working with the background and acrylic, and really, just got nowhere.   I had to size down the original figures and then I couldn’t seem to get them placed with background that I really wanted.  This is 22"x16" of watercolor paper and the figures are in acrylics with the background primarily pan pastels.  I put in the skin tones really dark and was concerned it might be too dark, but once the background was in place I think the tones work well.  I did make the girls face a bit lighter as I wanted her to be the primary focal point and thought that the guy works fine as the diagonal of his arm points to the girl - so I didn't feel he detracted too much.

Oh, yeah, isn't this just the ugliest tie?

Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.



Comments

hmuxo said…
Beautiful motion Nelvia....another good painting!!
December 5, 2018 at 9:19 AM
Mellowood Gallery said…
Wow! You just keep getting more adventurous, Nelvia. This is super; you did a great job on the man's clothes and the changes you made for the girl are perfect.
December 5, 2018 at 10:52 AM
Joan Tavolott said…
I like the changes you made to have them fit the theme you were thinking about. I think the skin tones came out good and the abstracted background really works.
December 5, 2018 at 5:24 PM
Sheila said…
Terrific work Nelvia. :) That is a cool site, thanks for sharing the link. I didn't notice on IG. But here, it seems like her left arm disappears against the background. Do you think it could use a bit more contrast? I love her pose, both poses are so energetic. They make me hear the music :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTctqB-co4k
December 5, 2018 at 5:43 PM
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