Creating Louise Brooks – 22-09-24

Website link: https://corneakkers.com/louise-brooks-22-09-24/
Printable: https://corneakkers.com/product/printable-louise-brooks-22-09-24/

The Return of the Flapper Girl

This colored pencil drawing ‘Louise Brooks – 22-09-24’ is inspired after a previous one, called ‘Julia 11-09-18’. There are paintings and drawing you’d do differently if you could do them over again. This one is not such a piece. Personally I always liked the concept. A bit angular. Not exactly cubist but a hint more or less. Next to this the colours rendered in my hatched strokes style look fresh and vibrant. Somehow I must have thought to match this result one day and this is that day. A couple of months ago I sold an oil painting of Louise. She is back in style again you could say so why not continue the series and do another one. The first one of her was all hatched up so now I present her in the same style. However now in color.

Power Lines

The reference picture that inspired me was rather grainy actually. Enhancing the photo didn’t do much good so I was left to my own devices. The shirt she is wearing is a bit woolly. So that didn’t work much trying to mimic it with my linear strokes. Basically I only slightly indicate the knitted patterns in the sleeve cuff. Her portrait was the focal point anyway. Talking about focus I wanted to really have some red and green power lines. They dominate the shady part to the right of her nose.

Perfect Divisionism

As to the color scheme I kept it rather simple. The face would make up for the red and green. From a tonal point of view I took care of matching them in the green and red lines perfectly. Striving for perfect divisionism one could say. There was no other choice than to render the background in green hues really. On a whim I did her shirt predominantly blue with shades of pink and green. The latter tied the drawing all together. Such is life, there is contrast but also variation in repetition and repetition in variation.

Colored pencil drawing on Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm - A4 format)
Artist: Corné Akkers