Happy First Day Of Summer! My Interpretation of The Birth Of Venus (My Fashion Illustration)

Happy first day of Summer! If you could turn any classical painting into a fashion illustration, which one would you choose? A hard choice to make, right? Recently while I was exploring a new way to do fashion illustrations (read about it here), I also drew a fashion illustration based on one of the most iconic paintings of all times. The Birth of Venus (Nascita di Venere) painted by Sandro Botticeli centuries ago, more precisely in mid 1480s, is certainly one of the best known and most popular paintings to ever been painted. I won't talk about how I personally feel about it, because that would take forever, as I've been obsessing over it for years but generally speaking it is a very popular painting. It depicts a mythological scene,  the birth of Venus (a goddess of love named Aphrodite in Greek mythology). According to legends Venus (Aphrodite) was born from the sea foam. I illustrated Venus wearing a swimsuit. I drew her using an ordinary B2 pencil, then I used a bit of yellow pencil on her swimsuit and a bit of red on her hair.

If you've seen some of my art, you'll know I have this thing for elongated necks and unrealistic body proportions. So, perhaps it was only a matter of time before I tried my hand at illustrating The Birth Of Venus. If you know this painting, you will know that the pose of the Venus is completely unrealistic. Moreover, Venus's  body on this Renaissance  is anatomically impossible. One of her shoulders (the left one) flows like hair and yet despite of all that, this iconic painting is very accessible to the eyes and there is something very natural about it. The Venus on this painting looks divine (pun intended), but she also looks accessible. Just goes to show that you can play with the proportions a little, as long as you know what you're doing. Isn't that just life? It is only once you master the technique and understand proportions, that you can go against what you just learned. I suppose that what they say is true: Learning the rules is important, so you would know how to break them.

original pencil drawing

original pencil drawing

I drew this one the same day I worked on some other fashion illustrations. I really like how the yellow pencil shines through. I might work on this concept a bit more, perhaps redraw these illustrations. I might go for a larger frame. What do you think? I think these look pretty nice as sketches/drawings, so I'm thinking of turning them into paintings. I'll have to see if I can clear my schedule a bit and devote more time to them. Art is so time consuming but at the same time, often it feels worth it. We need to make time for the things we love, we all know that....but it doesn't make it any easier, right? Still, I suppose it is a good thing that I have so much inspiration and will to create art. Where there is a will, there is a way.

original drawings - the yellow pencil looks  extra shiny because these photograph was taken under direct sunlight

original drawings - the yellow pencil looks  extra shiny because these photograph was taken under direct sunlight

I also decided to explore digital effects a bit more. I don't do classical digital art, but sometimes I like to use effects on my drawings. I think it can be a good way to reevaluate our art...and who knows, we might end up creating something we might like or that we can use as a design print. Digital art is certainly an interesting field. One could say that digital art is more environmentally-friendly, as one doesn't use much material, just a bit of electricity or battery to keep the laptop running. I suppose everything has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the things I love about the traditional art is that it provides my eyes with an opportunity to rest from staring at the screen all day. That's obviously not the case for digital art! However, I'm interested in exploring digital art more. What I'm not interested in, right? What can I say? I do love art, and when you love something, you kind of want to learn more and more about it.

original drawing plus digital effects

pencil drawing plus editing

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