Self Portrait 2024

18 x 24  white charcoal on black bristol board

​

This piece was many firsts for me. Not only does it use materials I had never experimented with, like smooth black paper and compressed white charcoal, but it also requires me to invert any shading techniques I had previously ingrained in my brain. I had to use compressed charcoal, making shading harder. I also had never seriously done human busts, let alone a self-portrait before. Doing a formal self-portrait forced me to look objectively at myself and my features; it also made me consider what is most important to include to show what is important to me.