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Thursday 5 November 2009

Portraits For Pleasure - Lady Jane

Okay so basically I'm a big fan of Mika and he released an EP earlier this year. It consisted of 4 songs and the EP was titled "Songs For Sorrow". Mika contacted several artists and asked them to draw interpretations of his lyrics, and on the MFC (Mika Fan Club) we are doing the same thing and giving it to him.

I have been drawing since I could probably hold a pencil, and it is because of MIKA that my artistic skills have progressed greatly. I still can't make a masterpiece, but they're not exactly shabby either, in my opinion. I put a lot of hardwork and dedication into my drawings and you always know you've done a good job on something if you can't stop staring at it, or listening to it, whatever it may be.

I wanted to showcase my drawings because I am really proud of them and hope you like them too!

His song "Lady Jane" provokes a lot of imagery, as it's a tale that could easily be a replica of those tales people used to talk to each other about years ago. That's how Disney got their stories you know, and it wasn't always pleasant!
It's basically a story about a woman who had everything apart from love, and when she finally met the man she wanted he followed her to the sea and, while Lady Jane was able to walk on water, the man drowned. In order to save her lover, Lady Jane cut off her feet and turned into a fish to search for him, but she never found him. Eventually she was caught and eaten, while her lover below was still looking for her.

I imagined Lady Jane to be quite young and have striking features. Like an English Rose, if you will. I visualised her looking over her shoulders with her eyes looking right at you, as if she's enticing you in, with her long wavy locks embracing her face. The more I thought about this picture the more I realised I actually had a picture like it. This is a picture of me in April 2009.

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This picture became my blueprint, if you will. I started to copy the hair and the face shape in pencil on an A3 sheet of paper.

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Some artists get the picture they want to copy, put a grid over the top, then draw a grid on paper and then draw the picture by using these guidelines.
I don't. My work is completely freehand. That's by choice and also because I don't draw on A4. I like to make my pictures big.

One of the many things that I cannot do is paint. It's pretty much impossible for me. Whenever I do a face I shade with pencils which I do rather like, as it gives a sort of elegance and classic feel to the drawing. However, I believe that colour can give a lot of body and life in a drawing so I tend to colour in the main features. These usually consist of just the eyes, but with Lady Jane I also coloured in the hair and her lips.

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I coloured in the eyes to make them more striking and piercing. I coloured in the lips to make them more sensual and enticing, and I also coloured in her hair to give a bit more life and to make it her main feature, something that you would imagine Lady Jane would take pride in. I gave her purple hair because it gave an unrealistic/characterisation effect next to the humanistic face. I quite like how they combine. Plus whenever I hear the song, I always imagine the colours purple or a deep blue. I think purple hair suits her (Or me! O.O) quite nicely. Plus I think the colour goes well with her despair and hopelessness, it represents her emotions.


I used watercolour pencils to colour in and it was my very first time using them. There are various ways you can use them - for this I decided to colour in what needed colouring in, and then wetted a paint brush and brushed water over it (but only a little bit). It made the colours blend a bit more which looks a lot nicer than the rough lines normal colouring pencils can give.

After that, I added charcoal to the background to make her stand out more against the paper.

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I then used white chalk to doodle mystical shapes in the background to give a more mysterious effect and blended it in with the charcoal so it didn't look too bold and draw the attention away from Lady Jane.

This is actually the finished picture.

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Here it is also in black and white, and a close up.

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It's one of my favourite pieces and I won't lie; I adore it. Sure it's not perfect, and people probably could have done better, but this drawing was a turning point for me. It was the first time I used something different and I'm less afraid of trying something new.

Thank you very much for reading and for the comments if anyone chooses to leave any. I will read them all and will try to respond if I can. If you are going to criticise, please do it constructively rather than in an attacking manner. Feel free to write your name in case I actually know you. :-)

6 comments:

Wendi said...

I really like the pictures you have drawn - and the image is very similar to the one I imagine when I am listening to the song. My favourite is the black and white one - because to me the song depicts her as black and white - the colour left her when her lover drowned!

CazStacey said...

Thank you for your comment Wendi (after many failed attempts!) and what a good interpretation! That's what I love about Art - it can have so many different meanings to different people. Thank you for sharing your views :-)

Anonymous said...

First of all-since I saw your first drawing I thought you have great talent.
Now about the blog...
Mika's songs really 'wake up' imagination so I had many sketches of every song but only in my head and for some reason I could never put it on paper. I really like your view on the songs, most of them are just like mine but you noticed alot of things I didin't. Really like your interpretation of those songs. So good luck with the blog and any future drawings

Please don't kill me for spellings- It's 1.35 am and English is my second language!

CazStacey said...

Thank you very much Manny! I hope you continue to draw - it just takes practice!

sparkyrachel/SunshineGirl said...

I was already familiar with this drawing of yours from your sig on MFC (and always thought it very good), and of course I'm familiar with the inspiration for this picture too.

What I really like is the description and explanation you've given us in this blog of the creative process, which I find very interesting to read. So, keep doing what you're doing - it's great!

CazStacey said...

Thank you Rachael! :-) x