Featured image credit goes to Charismatic Planet.
With everything involving major changes in my life (therapy/counseling, new temporary job, etc.), I’ve barely carved out any time to draw again. Hell, I barely had any time to organize the finished artwork I already had in my portfolio! But I knew that for the next graphite artwork, I wanted to do something completely out of my comfort zone.
So around early to mid-February, I started another drawing, but this time, I made it more personal than the typical “draw-what-I-interpret” style I would use from photo references.
I was named after a particular kind of flower celebrated in rituals, ceremonies, festivals and for its sweet floral fragrance. So I searched for two images of jasmine flowers with the idea that I was going to fuse them together into one unique drawing about myself.
After doing some deep diving and really analyzing my personality as a whole, I started with the usual outline of the drawing. Getting the petals correct for both flowers was somewhat difficult, but I managed and went entirely based off of both the references and from my imagination.
With the outline complete, the shading process began. I won’t share what pencils I used for this one because I feel like that’s not important since again, this drawing is personal to me. I shaded based on two facets of myself that I make noticeable to the majority of people I encounter day by day.
Again, due to everything going on, I didn’t finish this art piece until mid-March (which is where we are now) and after standing back and observing it, I can safely say that this one was more satisfying to my soul than the others I’ve done in the past.
To give a brief explanation, the first jasmine flower has a metallic, stiff quality to it because it represents the first impression and outside exterior that people see: rock-steady, serious, unshakable, and doesn’t let issues faze me.
The smaller, second jasmine flower represents the real, inner self and how I am when people move past the exterior: sensitive, benevolent, artistic, delicate and with a heart of gold that has some protection around it (the small thorns surrounding the center).
I’m very happy with this and I want to try this again in the future. Sometimes, the best artwork can come out of you working through a tough time and coming out still intact. Try it out; you might be surprised at what you discover about yourself!
le fleur artsy 