The first prompt drawn was ???shame???.
Honestly, I was a bit nervous because off the bat I am already straying away from my usual work. It???s not like I haven???t handled deeper topic before, but the illustration I usually produce usually has a more positive and uplifting concept to it. For the theme ???shame??? I didn???t see it possible for creating anything uplifting out of it, so I decided to go along with how I felt about shame.
Creating a visual that I was satisfied with was quite difficult, for some reason nothing felt right. I know I have the liberty to cut myself some slack, but if I???m going to do this, I might as well do it right. In the end, I reflected on what shame was, and what were the moments I felt the greatest amount of shame. As you’ve noticed, things got deep quickly. However, one pattern that remains consistent in my thoughts were eyes, and the looks of disappointment whenever I did something wrong. Honestly, those looks hurt me more than words; which as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and boy do they ever.
That look when you know you didn???t do what you were supposed to, or when the situation isn???t even in your control but, for some reason, it???s still your fault. That look of shame from your loved ones has to be one of the most painful things to feel. Even if they don???t say anything, all they have to do is look at you and you can feel the disappointment and the humiliation, and all of a sudden you???re powerless; you feel as if the world is against you.
So with that in mind, for the illustration I decided to create a crowd of people just staring at the viewer to create this ???me against the world??? kind of feeling, almost antagonizing the viewer. I decided to contour several figures just to capture the shape of the body but added a bit more detail when it came to the eyes. Afterward, I decided to just leave it black and white because during shameful times the only choices there are is whether you???re right or you???re wrong. Also, I felt any addition of colour would have definitely taken away from the overall feel.
This first was quite the doozy, from here on out, let???s keep trucking!
The next prompt is…
Until next time!
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Here are just some photos of the process work!
*Sometimes your camera photo doesn’t you justice
