b i a n c a

B is for Bianca.

Finally, another Alphabet Girl! And oy this one was a pain in my ass!

I always struggled with straight on portraits, and not only did I struggle with this one, I had a kamikaze bug decide it was going to kill itself on this piece, therefore leaving a dead bug stain on her chin (where the hair is going over it). And then I had huge trouble with her should. And don't get me started on that nose. It's still not right but I can't mess with it anymore without destorying the entire piece.

I am happy with this overall, it was just such an intense struggle to get just right. I'm happy with the hair, though she could be blonder, I'm happy with the eye and the mouth especially. Overall, I'd say this was a good piece of me to get back in the habit of doing graphite portraits after a not doing one since early springtime.

And like I will be doing with all the Alphabet Girls, I will explain a bit about the name. I've always liked this name and I've always felt that it unfortunately gets sort of a bad reputation since it seems to exude haughiness and arrogance where I find it exotic and classic European. While it's Old French, meaning "white", it's primarily and Italian name, and I love that and so I want to pick a picture that to me fit the name and the way I imagine a classic Bianca to look. I hope I did a good job.

Kimberly Graphite Pencils on Strathmore Bristol Board.
4 weeks of work, countless hours.
Reference used: [link]