This drawing has become one of my favorites, as it holds a deeper meaning than any of my other pieces. I call this piece “Drowned Girl” not only to embody what the viewer is able to see visually, but also to open a door of interpretation on why this girl feels drowned. It can be interpreted in a number of ways, however in this blog post I’d like to tell you the story I put behind this composition.
Before telling the story, I’d like to first break down the techniques I used while drawing this portrait. I played around with both positive and negative space for this piece. This means that on some areas I used dark colors on white and in others I laid down the dark color first, and then went back over with the white. The angler fish is an example of where I sketched over a dark area with the white colored pencil tool to achieve negative space. Positive space was used for the girls shoulder, head, and facial features. The usage of space and color were two of the main concepts I focused on for this drawing and I believe this approach gave the image more depth and fascination.
As you may be able to tell, the subject in this portrait is a young girl. Despite her young age, the viewer can also see black substance underneath each of her eyes. The black substance in question is actually mascara running down her face. In today’s society, due mostly to social media and social pressure, young girls feel strained to look a certain way. The anxiety that comes feeling not as beautiful as girls presented on mass media sent this young girl down a path of depression; the falsity of the media made the girl feel drowned. The scary looking fish underneath her represents the darkness that awaits her if she never seeks help and continues to drown deeper.
I drew this piece to bring light to this major issue and left the little girl’s eyes big and open to illustrate the hope that is still left. Everyone deserves happiness; always hold onto your faith in a hopeful future. I’d love to hear what you interpreted from this piece, or any other thoughts and opinions you may have. Feel free to leave me a comment. Lets have a discussion!
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