#first real freehand torso

[naariel]

Rhysie baby

Just look at that smug little shit

[pascalscenarios]

SAFE HOUSE (Dave York x Reader)

Safe House

Scenario Series

Bodyguard ! Dave York x Reader

Summary: It’s Dave’s week with you. After someone attempt to kidnap you, he takes you to a safe house. 

Words: 2652

Warning: Attempted kidnapping, mentions of blood

Authors Note: Had this in my drafts for a while - K

CHAPTER 1

Your father was a wealthy businessman. Many people came after your father and he knew they would use you to get back at him. You were the most important thing to your father, so from a young age you always had a bodyguard with you. You were older now, seeing no point in having one. It had been years since someone decided to come after your father. You were independent, capable of taking care of yourself, not needing someone to be with you 24/7, but if it gave your father a piece of mind then you guess it was okay.

Someone was loudly pounding against your door.

“Alright! I’m coming, I'm coming!”

You opened the front door to your apartment to find Dave York was standing there. Your face contorted in confusion. What was he doing here? It wasn’t his week to be with you.

Out of all the bodyguards that were assigned to you, Dave York was your least favorite. He wasn't very keen on you either. Dave was an ex CIA operative. He’s a few years older than you. He’s been one of your bodyguards for a little over a year. You knew nothing about him besides that. He was very private, closed off from letting you get close to him. You were nothing but a job to him, but he sure loved to get under your skin.

“Hey sweetheart” he gives you a fake smile.

“What are you doing here? It’s not your week! Where’s James?” you say. Dave makes his way past you and goes to your kitchen to get something to drink. You shut the door and follow him.

“Where’s James?” James was one of your other bodyguards. You two were secretly seeing each other.

“None of them told you? He’s got fired” Dave laughs as he opens the fridge grabbing the carton of orange juice.

“What? Why?” You say in shock

He snickers “Your daddy found out about you two were sleeping together”

Your eyes widen “What? T-that's not true!” you lied

“Don’t play innocent, you two were clearly screwing each other silly” he scoffs as he takes a swig from the carton.

There was no point in lying. “How did he-” Your eyes widened in realization “You!” You pointed at him. “You told him didn’t you?!”

He takes the backs of his hand, wiping away the orange juice that dripped from his lips “Guilty” he smiled. “It was obvious you two were a thing...You need a better poker face, but it’s good he gone...something was off about that guy”

“Good he’s gone? What the fuck Dave! Seriously? Running and telling my Dad? What I do in my life is none of your concern!”

“None of my concern?” He snaps at you, setting the carton down

“I’m your bodyguard! My job is to protect you! Your father is my boss, I’m supposed to tell him shit like this!”

“You don’t know anything about James! You can't just- You never liked him! You did it just because you felt like it! To make my life miserable!”

“No, you don’t know anything! I did you a fucking favor by telling your dad!” He yells at you. “If you only knew…” he mutters under his breath. “I did it for your own good. ”

“I don’t need you to protect me!”

Dave's phone begins to ring. He takes it out of his pocket, looking at the caller ID.

“Your Dad, I gotta take this” he heads to your front door, stepping outside to take the call.

You rolled your eyes. You were irritated and heavily annoyed with Dave.

You headed over to your living room, plopping yourself down on your sofa. You pick up the TV remote off the coffee table and turn it on. You were flipping through the channels when you heard Dave enter your apartment again. The door is closing.

“Gone to tattle on me again?” You joked, but part of you was serious. You stopped on a rerun of a reality tv show. It was silent. Usually Dave always had a quick comment back at you.

“Dave?” You look over your shoulder to find someone that wasn’t Dave. A man dressed in black and a ski mask covering their face and a gun in their hand came charging towards you.

Your eyes widen as you scramble to your feet staring at the person coming towards you.

From behind you, you felt a hand slap over your mouth, muffling your screams. Their hand grabs on tightly to your arm and pulls you back closer to their body.

You began to thrash and squirm in their grasp. You managed to bite down on their gloved hand, making them retract their hand away

“Fuck!”

“DAVE! SOMEONE HELP ME!” you quickly screamed.

“Shut up!” The man in front of you rushed closer to you pointing the cold barrel of the gun to your head.

“Scream again, and I’ll fucking put a bullet through your head!” He yells at you.

Tears streamed down your face as you sobbed, your lip quivering. The man holding you, grips you even tighter, their arm wrapping around your torso.

“We’re either gonna do this the easy way or the hard way” The man in front of you stares down at you.

“Hey! Knock it off! He said we needed them alive! We’re wasting time!” The man begins to drag you towards the backdoor of your apartment.

Dave calls at your name as you hear him enter your apartment.

“DAVE!” you scream.

“Shit” The man in front of you says as Dave quickly rushes in with his gun drawn. Before the man could react, shooting the man in front of you twice. His body hit the floor, blood pooling.

The man holding you lets you go, in shock off what just happened.

“We gotta go, quickly, come on!” He grabs your wrist and drags you out of your apartment. He was quickly running to his car that was parked just outside. You were barefoot and stumbling as he pulled you along.

As the two of you rushed to the car as bullets sprayed behind you. A bullet flies right past the both of you shattering a car window you were running past. You look back seeing the man that was shot coming after the two of you. He was walking limply, his hand over one of his gunshot wounds. His gun pointed straight towards the both of you

“Dave!” you yell as he let go of your wrist and jogged to the drivers side of the car.

“Just shut up and get in the car!” He barked at you. You quickly did what he said and opened the door, slipping inside.

He puts the key into the ignition, pulling the gear shift into drive and stepping on the gas, zooming out of the parking lot.

With a freehand, Dave grabs your free hand pushing your body down. “Stay down!”

You continue to hear gunshots after gunshot, then the back windshield, shattering. You let out another yelp. You quickly turn around to look behind you, pieces of glass dangled from the broken back windshield.

But your eyes widened as you noticed both men standing in the middle of the road as they watched you and Dave flee away.

You quickly face forward, your eyes widen in fear.

“I told you to keep your head down!”

“Who was that?! Dave, what the hell is going on?!” you cried.

He doesn’t say anything and keeps driving. He weaves in and out of cars, making sharp turns and he flies down the streets. You place your hand on the middle console and the roof of the car as he frantically drives.

Dave pulls into a parking garage turning into the spiral ramp, making his way up to the fifth level.

The fifth level was empty, only a Black Dodge Charger parked. He parks his car a few feet away, turning off the engine.

He reaches over you, opening the glove compartment and grabs a key. He hands it to you.

“Go wait for me in the other car”

“Dave-” you were shaking.

“Just do what I say!” He opens his door, and learns how to pull the lever to pop the trunk open.

You flinch at his reaction, quickly get out of the car, pressing the fob to unlock the car. You go to the passenger of the car, get in, setting the keys on the dashboard.

You watched as Dave pulled out his gun, reloading it with a mag and cocking it. He places it back in his holster. He grabs a black duffle bag, slinging it over his shoulder, and slams the trunk shut. He walks over to the charger, opening the back door and tossing the bag inside.

He gets inside the car grabbing the keys off the dash.

…

The two of you sat in silence as he drove to god knows where for a couple hours. Usually you would be irritated and take his ear off just to annoy him, but you didn’t know what to say. In fact you had nothing to say. You were scared. All you knew is that the situation you two were in is serious and then you should listen to what he tells you to do. There was no time for fun and games.

You had made it to a random house by nightfall. It was in the middle of a rural forest. It was like a fortress, with tall walls fencing in the house.

Dave drove up to the gate. He rolled down his window flipping open the code box, punching numbers in. The gates open allowing him to drive the car onto the property, parking in the garage, which he opened from a button in the car.

Once the car was parked, he pressed the button in the car again, closing the garage door. Dave steps out of the car, opening the back door to grab the duffle bag.

“Come on” he says before closing the doors.

You step out of the car, shutting the door and following him.

You and Dave enter the house. All the lights are off. Dave heads over to the security system that was placed on the wall when you first enter.

“What is this place?” you asked softly as he messed with the security.

“Safe house”

The lights turned on, you and Dave continue through the house into the living room.

He sets the duffel down on the sofa.

“Stay here, I’m gonna check out the house real quick”

You sat down on the couch anxiously as you waited for him to return. Your eyes kept darting around, wondering if someone was going to up out somewhere. The events of today replaying in your head like a broken record. Who were those men? What did they want from you?

“Hey” you broke out of your train of thought. You jump and look up at Dave.

“It’s just me” He reassures you as you ease down. “Everything's secure”

“We should sleep. It’s been… a day. Let's go upstairs” He picks up the bag and heads over to the stairs.

You follow him up to the second floor and he leads you to the master bedroom. The room was large. A king bed was in the middle of the room, a tv mounted on the wall and the bathroom off to the side.

“You can say here, I’ll be down the hall”

“I want to shower”

“Okay”

“...I don’t have any clothes though”

He opens up the duffle, grabbing a t-shirt and shorts.

“Here. It’s mine. Well, figure out the essentials in the morning.”

“Thanks...Is it okay if you wait here until I’m done?” You’d feel safer knowing he was just outside the bathroom door.

“Yeah” he moves over to sit on the bed.

You made your way into the bathroom. You look in the mirror noticing how exhausted you looked, your eyes puffy from crying. You noticed the bruises on your arms from one of the guys holding you tight and several small cuts from the glass shattered while running.

You stripped yourself from your clothes and stepped into the shower, turning the handle. You let the warm water slide off your skin. Standing under the shower head you slick your wet hair back. You cup your hands together letting the water collect in your hand before.

You stay in the shower for several more minutes. You changed into Dave's clothes. As you lifted the shirt over your body, you smelt the fabric. It smelled like his cologne. Dave would douse himself in his cologne and you would rag on him about wearing too much. The weeks he would be with you, your house would smell of him. You secretly loved the smell but you wouldn’t tell him that.

You slipped on the shorts and grabbed the towel scrunching your hair. You open the door to find Dave in the same spot. He stands up grabbing the duffel and makes his way over to the door. You walk over to the night stand turning a knob to turn the lamp on.

“I’ll be down the hall if you need me.”

“Okay...Goodnight”

“Night” He turned off the main light and shut the door

You placed your towel on a chair that was in the room and headed over to the bed. You pulled the covers back and went to sleep.

...

You were having trouble sleeping tossing and turning the whole night. Even though you knew the house was heavily secure and Dave was just down the hall, you felt unsafe.

You got out of your bed, and made your way down the hall towards Daves room. You stood outside of his door, debating if you should bother him or not. 

You slowly open up his door. Dave was sleeping on his side, his back towards you, the covers draped over his body.

“Dave?” You whispered.

He stirs awake, turning over slightly too look over. Seeing you stand there, he sits up in bed, the blanket falling off his body, pooling at his waist. He was shirtless, which made you blush slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sorry to wake you” you start off by saying. You knew he was just as exhausted as you are.

“I was wondering…would it be okay if I sleep with you?- I mean to be with you, but like next to you? I really don’t wanna be alone- I could sleep on the floor or if you don’t want me here at all I under-“ you stuttered quickly at him

Dave says your name

“Y-yeah?”

“Just get in the bed” he says scooting over.

“Okay”

You close the door behind you, walking over to the bed. Dave lifts the blanket up, letting you side in.

“Are you okay?” he asks as he stares up at the ceiling.

“I couldn’t sleep...after what happened...I don’t wanna be alone. I’m scared if I’m being honest”

He signs “I shouldn’t have left you in your apartment like that-”

“It’s not your fault Dave...You didn’t know that was going to happen” The conversation fell dead. He didn’t respond until a few moments later.

“I had a bad feeling about him, James. When I figured out you two were together, it didn't sit right with me. I wouldn’t care if it was anyone else but him...he’s...somethings off with him...Look I didn’t tell your dad to make your life miserable...just worried about your safety. Despite what you think, I do care for you...and not because it’s my job”

You didn’t know what to say...He cared for you in what way? Was he saying what you think he was saying?

He says your name

You didn’t say anything. You pretended that you had fallen asleep.

You heard him sigh. “Goodnight”

You felt the bed shift as he placed a soft kiss on your forehead before shifting back over to his side.

MT: @icanbeyourjedi @sara-alonso @greeneyedblondie44 @hb8301 @alberta-sunrise @spacenerdpascal @ryleyrooroo @reader-s-cantina @nikkixostan @mindidjarin

[nibeul]

hey! i love your art so much! i was just wondering if you have any tips on humanoid anatomy? and like poses n such? thanks! :D

ahh hey, I am a little behind on asks but umm, let me see if I can try to answer this for you because I am not so good at tutorials/articulating my process

I'm not sure if the video is super helpful, but I thought I would include it anyways since some friends on disc were asking if I recorded my drawing process. this is one of the few pieces where I decided to do some cleaner linear since the initial sketch was really messy, though I freehand most of my anatomy because I am um.. very impatient. I don't like to go through the shapes and such, and I don't know, I guess anatomy just kinda feels like it fits into place for me? I've never done any shapes underneath even when I was starting out, hence why it's a bit hard for me to do a tutorial.

but with my way of free handing, I think the first thing to do is really split the bodies into different shapes in your head. depending on the pose (esp if they are just standing there), I will sketch out the torso and then the arms after. you start out with a limbless potato, then you build on with limbs and stuff. hands normally reach down to mid thigh, elbows are like right in the middle of the base of your chest then your waistline (hands are also a bit smaller than your face), then stuff kinda just.. fills in a guess.

your best bet is to look at references. I use myself as a reference a lot, I'll use too the internet if I have a non specific pose, though using yourself as guidelines is the easiest to start out with. I rely on a lot of muscle memory (and also just mimicking things I see in real life), though I need to emphasize that using refs is a good thing. don't be afraid to use refs! if you have CSP, you can even use the models in the program, though also just taking pictures of yourself and drawing that will help you quickly improve your anatomy. I like to piece different refs together, or just use myself entirely, sometimes I use a mix of both.

sorry if that isn't really helpful, anatomy just feels very errr.. natural to me I guess, so it's hard for me to put my thoughts into words :'D

[guessmonsta]

kuroo and his theatre nerd gf go to a planetarium? she really likes space too (sorry if this is too stereotypical omg)

I apollo-gize for the puns ahead of time. No. Really. I’m sorry. This is just one huge-ass pun.

“You know the real reason why I’m taking you here is so you don’t watch Journey To The Edge of The Universe for the millionth time, right?” Tetsurou announced once he slid out of the drivers side of the car. Exams season had finally come to a bitter end, and whilst most of his classmates were out planning summer trips down to the coast, he had other ideas in mind. As much as he liked the beach, getting piss wasted by deep water two days after one of the most important days of his life was not the way he wanted to go out. From the other side of the car, he heard his girlfriend snort at his comment.

“Yeah right. Talk all you want. You’re doing this because you love me.” She slid up to his side and pulled his hand into hers. Her shit eating grin flattered her dress quite nicely.

“Well, I mean, that too.”

“And don’t try and pretend like you’re not enjoying this, Tetsurou.” __ looked up at him with a smirk, cocking an eyebrow and waiting for his reaction. She had used his full first name on purpose, just to provoke him. It was a fun game they played. “…You’re a bigger nerd than I am. I see the way your eyes light up when I kick the documentaries up.”

“It’s like a Pavlov’s Dogs thing, it’s only because every time I see it on screen, I just think of Uranus.”

At this, she rolled her eyes in such a dramatic manner she almost tripped over, her entire upper torso flipping with her eyes. Tetsurou couldn’t help but laugh at his own joke.

“It’s hard to believe you’re getting your PhD in biochemistry when you still make Uranus ass jokes like you’re in grade seven.”

“Doctor at mind, pubescent teenage boy at heart, babes.”

“Isn’t it actually pronounced Ur-Uh-nuss instead of Ur-Ey-nuss? Public school education taught me the ass version but your favorite documentary taught me the other.”

“Who cares? It’s not like you’re hurting the planets feelings.”

“Poor uranus.”

“You pity a planet now?” He laughed again, getting distracted for a moment as they crossed the street towards the sidewalk, waving at a driver who stopped for them to awkwardly shuffle across. “I’m kinda jealous.”

“Why jealous? ‘Cause I pity a ball of gas?”

“I’m joking.”

“I know. But like, every planet has such an ethereal name like, Neptune or Saturn, then there’s Uranus. The only reason people remember it is because it has the properties of an ass.”

“How so?”

“Anus, gassy, and big, for the most part.”  

Tetsurou stopped in his tracks, squeezing hard at __’s hand, not hard enough to necessarily hurt her, but enough to make her squeal a bit.

“Who’s making puns now, woman?”

“Oh, please, it was you who started it all.”

“You were asking for it, really.”

“Hey! Quit being an… ass-teroid.”

“Oh? Oho? You can’t judge me for making puns now.” Tetsurou got up in her face, pulling her aside the staircase to move them out of the way of the ther guests walking in and out of the building. He grabbed both of her hands and leaned further into her, causing her to laugh even harder. “You’ve made twice as many as I have today. You’re winning, and that isn’t a good thing.”

“Tetsu, oh my god, there’s kids around.” She said through broken giggles, trying to hide her face from a mother walking past with two children both under the age of five.

“They can deal with it. I’m just trying to comet to my relationship here.”

“Tetsurou!”

“Sue me.” He smirked, kissing her dramatically on the lips, making sure to leave it with a loud, wet smack.

“C’mon now, more time has been wasted than there is in the atmosphere.” He proclaimed, only for his girlfriend to hiss.

“Ou-uch. That’s too soon.”

“Ye-eah I can admit that was a bad one.”

“That was terrible. The polar bears are dying, Tetsu.”

“I said I know it was a bad one!”

“I’m just messing.” She giggled. Once they reached the entrance, she opened the door for him surely smirking up at him and sneered- “After you, m’lady.”

“Oh, how charming.” He giggled in falsetto, causing a chain reaction. “Who said chivalry is dead?”

“If you’re gonna be like this the entire time I would’ve gone with that freshman you’re friends with.” She said, completely sarcastic, entirely to rile him up.

“Kei?”

“Yes.” She added.

“Why Kei?”

“Because he would actually sit and enjoy the program and not be a smart ass about everything.”

“Oh hun,” He snickered, pulling her close to him as they stood in the queue. “That’s what makes it fun. Besides, there would be no room for you with all the space the stick up his ass takes up- and he’s the biggest smartass in the entire metropolitan area. I don’t know what you’re on-!”

“Is he? Really?” She pondered, this conversation stopping for a moment as Tetsurou stepped up to the reception table, ordering their tickets. As they walked away, tickets in hand, he nodded.

“You’ve talked to him once while he was with his girlfriend, what do you know? If you think I’m being a smartass-”

“I think you’re jea-alous.” She chimed, her hand slipping to fold with his once more. He rolled his eyes.

“Listen, I’ve seen you ugly cry over Phantom of The Opera until you had snot bubbles in your nose. You might as well just marry me.” He shrugged. The further they got in the planetarium the darker it got, and Tetsurou’s smirk had faded to a genuine smile when he felt __ grab onto his arm.

“Listen.” She whisper spoke, not wanting to disrupt the general silence of the hall. The walls were covered in constellations and interactive star models, and they slowly started to hook __’s attention away from the conversation. “Point Of No Return is a sad song, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He looked down at her and smiled, but found her completely focused on the constellations that arched across the ceiling as the hallway got wider and wider as they got closer to the auditorium. He smiled fondly, he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around how easily amused she was, but he figured it endearing. She placed her freehand on the wall and dragged it along with her as she walked, fingertips grazing over the glow-in-the-dark stars painted across the walls. Suddenly, she looked up at him, mouth open as if she was going to say to say something, but she gaped, then shook her head.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” Kuroo hummed, fully cognizant of what he was doing.

“I don’t know,” She giggled, “That’s why I’m asking.”

“Because, you’re my entire universe.”

Instead of throwing another insult at him, or gasping in disbelief, he watched __’s face go red as her focus drifted to the floor. When the he saw a smile smile creep up onto her face, that’s when he knew he had won.

[cordlock7-blog]

Kukuli Velarde wears many faces in The Complicit Eye at Taller Puertorriqueño

Deb Krieger takes an early tour of The Complicit Eye, lauded ceramicist Kukuli Velarde’s first major solo show of paintings in Philadelphia. This provocative body of work, on view at Taller Puertorriqueño through April 30, 2019, reveals Velarde's long-standing use of self-portraiture as a mode of intersectional feminist critique.

When I walk into the gallery at Taller Puertorriqueño, Kukuli Velarde is hard at work, standing on a ladder, tracing out intricate shapes in black marker against a white mural surface in the center of the space. Her face gazes out at me, five, ten, fifteen-fold, from the rich, lustrous paintings on the gallery walls (not to mention the light rendering of that impenetrable, resolute gaze in red pencil in her new mural work). Her show, The Complicit Eye, presents Velarde in all manner of guises: naughty pin-up girl, martyred saint tied to a post, grieving Virgin and Pietà figure together in one composition, pregnant and proud with swollen belly, beheaded by a smug-faced angel. In The Complicit Eye, Velarde paints herself in these female archetypal forms, confronting the viewer with their own preconceived notions of what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal society, to be flattened and reduced to a single consumable image. Drawing upon Western art history, popular culture, and Inca and Pre-Columbian motifs from her native Peru, she simultaneously calls attention to histories of colonialism and racism.

Exhibition view, Kukuli Velarde’s “The Complicit Eye” at Taller Puertorriqueño

An ideal mother

The in-progress* mural, called “Vitruviana and Vitruvianita,” is a centerpiece of the exhibition, specifically meant to facilitate conversation between Velarde and the audience. One of the mural panels clearly depicts Velarde herself, her body drawn amidst a swirl of sinuous, chaotic forms, while the adjacent panel on the right depicts her young daughter. Both Velarde and her daughter’s faces are lightly rendered, made all the more jarring by the inclusion of cut-out photographs of their eyes. Velarde explains that the pose she’s drawn herself in is in homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” drawing, where the ideal male figure is inscribed in a circle and a square. Yet while Velarde’s body is posed roughly similarly to that of Leonardo’s man, arms extended at ninety degrees and the legs held together, the order and geometric rationality of “Man” and man’s world becomes the chaotic discord of womanhood. Velarde’s body is held together in the torso area by the thinnest of strings, while one of her legs is capped with a bird-like claw where a foot should be.

Velarde tells me that girls are said to mature faster than boys do, and she believes they have to do so in order to deal with the reality of living in patriarchy—of dealing with the terror of sexism, machismo, the specter of male violence against women. The graceful waves and shapes that extend from Velarde’s half of the composition to the panel containing her daughter symbolize Velarde’s stated desire to protect her young daughter from the horrors of growing up. Even as a work in progress, “Vitruviana and Vitruvianita” depicts the fantastical yet logical extension of this protective instinct: in order to survive in an irrational world, women must mold themselves into something strong, something unexpected (like a claw on the end of the human leg), to protect one another.

Flipping the script

The rest of Velarde’s works in The Complicit Eye offer similar critiques of female roles in a male-dominated world. “Leda” remixes Velarde’s unforgettable face into the long-lost Michelangelo painting of “Leda and the Swan,” today only known through reproductions. Yet as the swan slithers between Velarde’s legs, she’s ready to fight back against this assault by the god Zeus. In a striking shift from the original composition, one hand clamps around the swan’s beak, while the other grips a knife, unwilling to back down or surrender.

“Hispanic Ready Made,” one of the more sardonic works in the show, expands thematically into a critique of stereotypes of Latina women, as well as Western ignorance and homogenization of Latinx culture. Against a backdrop of floral wallpaper, Velarde has painted her head onto a body posed in a “boobs and butt pose” (infamous in comic books), where the spine is twisted to show the viewer both cleavage and rear end. But the genius of “Hispanic Ready Made” comes from the way Velarde has painted removable arms, facial expressions, accessories, and outfits, as if her body is one of those paper dolls with interchangeable clothing. A Carmen Miranda fruit hat, a mariachi sombrero, maracas, a cantaloupe bra, a smiling expression—it’s a mix and match of the coarsest stereotypes of Latinx identity. And Velarde goes a step further: the different pieces can be moved and swapped, and “Hispanic Ready Made” seems to invite the viewer to do so. Yet, as Velarde tells me, only she is allowed to change the components of the image. You want to fit her into your anachronistic box? Well, you’re not allowed to. Only Velarde can manipulate her own image.

“Pinup Wanna Be” (left) and “Superuvian” (center) by Kukuli Velarde. From “The Complicit Eye” at Taller Puertorriqueño.

Many sources, many styles

The technical aspects of Velarde’s craft are brilliant. She has a remarkable facility for rendering flesh, but also shows skill in imitating a variety of styles. In the work “Superuvian,” which takes the style of a comic book cover about gentrification, she mimics the flatter colors and punchy dialogue bubbles of comic book art, while “Pinup Wanna Be” perfectly imitates the breezy, almost Mannerist poses of classic pin-up girls. In “Nakaq Archangel,” Velarde combines both her typical naturalistic handling of oil paint with a purposefully stylized image of an angel, who holds her severed head in one hand and a sword in the other. Here Velarde’s own expression is particularly haunting and unrelenting, while the placid angel is rendered as white-skinned, his clothing reminiscent of Spanish Baroque garb. The stony gaze of Velarde’s head conjures the myth of Perseus and Medusa, in which the hero is tasked by the gods with beheading his enemy. According to the accompanying text, Nakaq was a god-like figure who committed mercy killings of those who begged it for help. Velarde has cast Nakaq as a colonial avatar of the Catholic Church, casually rendering violence against colonized peoples like Velarde’s own Peruvian ancestors.

“Nakaq Archangel” (detail shot) by Kukuli Velarde. From “The Complicit Eye” at Taller Puertorriqueño.

Naked and unashamed

“Venusina,” another work that draws upon art-historical references, depicts Velarde in the pose of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, skin and hair lightened to better suit colonial Western tastes. She’s blonder, thinner, whiter than the real Velarde, and the expression of absolute disgust on Velarde’s painted face hints at barely-concealed rage, as if the painting itself hates what it has to be. On the adjacent wall is Velarde’s expression of triumph and self-confidence, titled Daddy Likee?, where the fifty-five year-old (she told me her age) Velarde is posed sprawling, naked, unashamed of her body. In a sense, Daddy Likee? is the culmination of the various guises portrayed in The Complicit Eye; it combines designs from Inca textiles, writing in Spanish and English, and incorporates the versions of herself from other paintings in the show in a frieze, operating as a meta-reference to the entire collection of works on display. In the center of it all is Velarde, without persona or disguise, not taking the role of anyone except that of herself.

[For more on Kukuli Velarde, see this post by Jennifer Zarro, with written commentary on the artist that gives context to her Artblog Radio interview, also in the same post.]

The Complicit Eye is on view November 16, 2018 – April 30, 2019 at Taller Puertorriqueño, 2600 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19133; Gallery Hours: 10- 6, Monday – Saturday; Phone: (215) 426-3311.

*During the first 10 days of the exhibition, Velarde is drawing a freehand mural in marker on the wall of the gallery while in conversation with visiting members of the community.

“Venusina” (left) by Kukuli Velarde. From “The Complicit Eye” at Taller Puertorriqueño.

Source: https://www.theartblog.org/2018/11/kukuli-velarde-wears-many-faces-in-the-complicit-eye-at-taller-puertorriqueno/

[labeckinator]

Drawing the Guymelefs - A Tutorial of Sorts...

This tutorial is based around how I approach drawing the guymelefs.  That said, it may not be the best art tutorial for beginning artists.  It’s really more built for experienced artists who find drawing mecha frustrating, and hopefully the tutorial will help make it easier.

This is also the first tutorial I’ve ever done, so with that in mind, let’s jump in!

The Human Figure

The way I approach drawing a mech isn’t all that different from drawing a human figure.  I start out with a basic line of action and rough out basic, humanoid shapes.  Most mecha, especially the Guymelefs of Escaflowne, are humanoid.  If you have familiarity of drawing the human figure, you can use that as a blueprint to draw a guymelef.

Before I get too far into it, let me break down further how to draw some of this guymelef.

Mechanical Layers - Roughing out Basic Shapes and Then Adding Detail

After the basic forms are roughed out, I then begin shaping the form that will look more robotic and mechanical.  

One of the main challenges of drawing the Guymelefs over, say, Gundams, is that quite a few of the mechanical shapes are rounded, and rigid.  For this consider cylinders and spheres.  

Below is an example of starting with a cylinder, and then adding the shapes to it for form the forearm of Escaflowne (sans hand).

The shoulder is dominated by a diamond shape, with a triangular tube that protrudes from the side. 

The head of Escaflowne is detailed and complex looking, however, starting with a rough head shape you can layer details onto that to get the guymelef head.  It was much like drawing a helmet you would find on a suit of armor, which makes sense, since that’s where the pilot’s head goes.

While this tutorial focuses mainly on Escaflowne, below is an example I did of a more Gundam like arm using the same principle of a basic shape and then adding robotic detail.

The torso of Escaflowne I found to be particularly difficult.  Part of it was I would use normal human proportions, but the Escaflowne really doesn’t match those at all.

Below I’ve drawn a couple of comparisons noting where the shoulders and arms are, as well as layering the details of the torso onto a rough geometric shape.

The legs can be tricky like the torso for similar reasons.  They’re not quite normal leg proportions.  In Escaflowne, the upper part of the leg, where the femur is (which is the longest bone in the human body) is very short compared to the lower part of the leg. That’s something to keep in mind when drawing the leg.

The other thing I find tricky about Escaflowne’s legs is that there are multiple layers to them, which obfuscate how to draw them upon first observation.  Below I broke them down into three steps:

Step 1: (beginning on the left) just rough outline of the basic shapes.  

Step 2: I overlayed the hip piece on top of the thigh and added the detail around the knee joint and lower part which ends on the top of the foot.

Step 3: Added the foot and additional final details. The foot itself is particularly obfuscated by the top portion of the bottom half of the leg.  I drew a basic outline under so I could place it correctly.

Hands can be really tricky to draw in general, now we have to make them robotic? Yes, yes we do.

The nice thing is even if you have a basic understanding of the joints in the fingers and general shape of the hand you can make it robotic.  In the example below the only difference I’m noting with the arrows is that on a real hand, the index and pinky finger curve in slightly.  To make it more mechanical looking, make those fingers straight.

Reference!

If you’re reading this and anything like me, you probably find it especially challenging to freehand draw mechanical looking thingymabobs.  There’s a lot of little details that are hard to think about or internalize without having reference on hand.

A good drawing practice (whether drawing mecha or non-mecha) is having reference.  This probably makes up about 99% of my effort in drawing Escaflowne, Scheherazade , etc.

I often use google image search for reference, or I’ll pop on the show and pause on a scene and draw that.  If you have the art books, model sheets are an excellent reference for drawing the guymelefs.

Remember the three R’s:  Reference, Reference, Reference!

Now Let’s Put it All Together

I threw a lot on here, but I tried to keep the under structure I had done as visible as possible.  For me, it was helpful to place the shoulder pieces early on since it helps me with placement of the arms.  I left the feet off in this one, I’ll add them in a little later.

In drawing 2, I changed the chest piece to stick out a bit, still using the initial placement in drawing 1 as a place marker.  Also started working the face and the legs a bit.

I realized some of the proportions were off.  I sized down the head and increased the size of the legs.

Below I added the arm in the foreground as well as other corrections and details in another color to make it more visible to me (you don’t have to add colored lines if you don’t want to).

With all the lines in more or less the right place, ink and enjoy.