Meet the Artist Breakdown

Skin & Eyes

There’s not much to really say here, I’m latinx with pale skin. I can tan, but like I’m basically a vampire in that I don’t really like the sun (or being outdoors). As for my eyes I just had basic brown eyes. In the sun they look yellow-orange.

I have lots of moles & cherry moles, but I don’t draw those, because it’s A LOT and I don’t think about it. The only moles I do probably draw from time to time are the 5-6 on my face. I often see people represent their moles with one or two, but unfortunately, I’ve been blessed to be more like a connect the dots page.

I have dark shadowed eyes (making people think I didn’t sleep enough, which is semi-true, or think I’m dead, also semi-true). I would probably draw the dark around my eyes more often if I could, but it’s not always easy to show the parts I like about it. I have big eyes (which honestly, probably stand out how wide I have them naturally open against my dark eyelids) so I tend to draw them tall. I avoid drawing the bottom lid sometimes, because my lower eyelashes don’t really stand out.

Nose

I don’t really like noses, though mine is decently big and in proportion to my face. I just don’t like drawing them or like mine much.

Lips

I have fairly decently big lips. At least, they’ve always felt like they stand out. I used to be self-conscious of them. If I don’t represent them colored, I typically represent them by darkening the top lip and suggesting a big bottom lip.

Hands

I have naturally long nails, which can grab unwanted attention sometimes. Left are my natural nails. Right are the color nails I typically choose when I do feel like painting them, once in a blue moon. I’m a pretty lazy person, so, if I choose to paint my nails, they’re typically solid and all the same color. I’m not really a mix & match type of person. This is a lot more than I thought I would say about my nails, but they’ve always just been comfortable claws that I hate maintaining & that’s about it.

I also have slender fingers which make them seem long, so sometimes I go for a more disney hand style, because they taper in a way that reminds me of that style.

Hair

To summarize, I have dark brown slightly waving hair that can be incredibly annoying, because there’s a lot of it. I tend to cut my hair with layers to manage all the hair. For the most part, its just annoying. So I tend to chop it off and try to maintain it between short and medium, but I get lazy and it can get longish. My wavy hair is just untamable, so I let it do whatever. Some days I am “graced” with smooth, easy, straight hair, other times I’m dealing with untamable waves -or- worse, random curls & frizz in places (BAD hair day).

Anyways, my hair’s a mess I don’t like dealing with outside of brushing (good job, Chel!)

To circle back on the color, I have dark brown hair. In the sun, it glows more reddish/orange and you can tell easier that I have brown hair after being in the sun or some sun bleaching. So, I tend to draw the lighter colors mixed into my hair. Why? Style. I do notice that random fly aways that escape the pack tend to appear lighter, too. I have an especially bothersome strand in my bangs, where it parts, that follows it’s own rule. It always looks lighter since its away from the colossal dark brown group, and even if it parts with the rest of my bangs, it has to spill out. It’s like it refuses to be on either side sometimes. I’m typically conscious of it, so I draw it in.

I hope this all lets you understand why I draw my hair the way I do with its multi-colors. The underpart of my hair I draw in a diff color for fun & style. For the most part, because I don’t want to draw my dark brown hair shaded any darker if I can help it. I try to avoid using full on black in my art, so stylistically, against dark colors, I opt for lighter colors to contrast between it. Even though it’s a style choice, I did end up liking the idea of purple hair, so I draw the underside purple sometimes. I bleached my hair in real life for purple hair, so I draw my hair either all dark brown, underside lighter (bleached), or purple (dyed).

More common stylings that I do either down or ponytails, but this just everything I change around when I feel like it. I’m lazy though, so whatever is easier.

Bunny

I’m more spiritual than I let off (even to myself). So, I think of myself as a rabbit: timid, shy, meek. I’ve always been a cry baby, though I’ve learned to grow a more rough exterior, it hasn’t changed much of how I do view myself. The spirit of it, is essentially, I’m a rabbit. I like rabbits.

I do sometimes draw a small bunny sometimes to represent myself, but that’s rarer or when I’m feeling lazier than usual. The ears & tail match my hair color of dark brown, with the inner ear being a pale purple color. Other times, a silhouette of bunny ears and a tail are used with the night sky as the background. I do pair them up with wings or without, it’s just based on my mood.

Wings

This probably is more effort to have to explain. This concept for me is 15+ years old. You’ll probably see mentions of wings in my poems from time to time.

The basic idea though is that you carry your soul on your back like a pair of wings. Out of sight to yourself, it’s hard to judge ourselves. But, we look at other people and compare ourselves. We see their uniqueness or essence and think we have none. Funnily enough, people are most likely looking at your wings in awe and wishing they too had wings, not realising they do. I just use wings to symbolise that idea that you have something to offer. All of the good you that people are looking at and are admiring, it’s a bit of a vague concept.

I grew up lonely, abused, & later bullied on in life. I used to draw wings symbolically on myself as a vent, but would draw myself with broken wings. It used to represent self-loathing I had with myself: I hated myself, there was nothing good about me, and I agreed with my situation, tearing out my own wings. I struggled with self-esteem issues & it was a very dark time for me. After getting space from those situations, I was able to start practicing self-love.

I draw wings as reminders to not fall back into that level of despair and to help remind myself to love myself. It’s a nice metaphorical sense of progress in my emotional journey & I’m very proud of how far I’ve come and how much I’ve let my wings grow. They may be small, but it’s mine.

Small vanilla or white wings are usually drawn.