Ultraviolet - Original

Each of my new portraits is meant to challenge the previous. Up to this point, I had been drawing women with darker skin on light paper, and lighter skin on dark paper. I had made those decisions intensionally to create more contrast, but I had never attempted to draw a woman with darker skin on darker paper, which would be more subtle than anything I created before.
 
For this piece, I wanted to emphasize feminity through 3 key features: big, long, curly hair with plenty of highlights throughout; flowers with soft petals scattered through her hair; and a suble smile on her full lips as she gazes right at you/the viewer. Through all of these soft, feminine features, I also wanted to evoke youth, innocence, and beauty. Not all portraits have to have high contrast to be beautiful!
 
Overall, "Ultraviolet" is a very subtle, yet stunning representation of feminine beauty. Additionally, after completing this drawing, it strengthened my eye for color and color combinations, exhibited in my more recent works. 
 
"Ultraviolet" was drawn with colored pencils on 187 lb. Canson Ultraviolet Colorline paper, completed in December 2017.