GRIDDED SELF-PORTRAIT (ART HISTORICAL)

For this project we were asked to research an artist and make a self-portrait inspired in him/her. I was inspired by Frida Kahlo, a mexican artist that was active during the 20th century. Her painting have a lot of symbolic figures, and natural backgrounds. I love the sea so I made it under water. I first drew my face and then I added the background, I used a HB pencil and color pencils.

I used different values of grey for my face and and vibrant colors for the background; this two elements contrast between each other and emphasis the self-portrait. As I said I first drew myself and then the background, the last thing I added was the octopus, I wanted it to be dynamic so I make it count my face.

The image is a reflection of my interior (the sea) and my exterior (the portrait), this project relates to my life because of the octopus; in Spain all my cousins and siblings call me Octopus because they say I dance like an octopus, the octopus was the hardest part to draw, I couldn't get the tentacles to look like they were actually in my face, I race them several times until they looked how I like them.