Two years ago, I began creating a series of large-scale portraits for what I now call - my ‘peasant girl’ series. With these portraits, I hope to pay tribute to Cypriot women from a bygone era. Each poster features a young village girl wearing traditional attire undertaking a household chore or activity that was once commonplace in the Cypriot village.
I am pleased to say that – as of today - I have now completed six portraits. I hope you like them.
Peasant Girl #1
Mixed Media
Below are some photos that I used as reference for my peasant girl portraits. I have also included a few photos showing my attempts to create textures.
For those who asked about my creative process, it goes something like this... I begin by using my own reference photos. In this case, my model was Ourania, a friend's daughter. Taking my own reference photos ensures that my artwork is totally original and does not breach anyone's copyright. Once I have printed my reference photo, I use it to create an outline drawing by hand (pen and ink). I then scan this outline drawing into Adobe Illustrator where I redraw the outlines and turn them into vector shapes. I then add flat areas of colour and add highlights and shadows. Finally, I transfer the finished vector drawing into Adobe Photoshop where I add textures and other rendered finishes. Each drawing takes between 40 - 60 hours to complete over many months. I could never sit in front of a computer for more than a few hours at a time.
