Harlem Girl Revision

I've been cleaning up that Harlem Girl painting, basically just going everything very in-depth and making it a lot tighter. One thing I've been doing in particular is paying attention to the way the light falls on the model's skin in the photo I'm working from. I still want to run over this one more time and brighten it up a bit and tighten up a few more things.

Harlem Girl

Here's a picture that's inspired from a fashion story in this month's Interview Magazine. The girl is almost all from one photo, but I didn't want her in a turban (even though Muccia Prada and Polo think it's a good idea, I'm not sure that I do). So, I gave her a little hairstyle instead. I'm not done with this. Like "Red Haired Girl" I'm going to have to make a return to refine her arms, legs, and hands.

The biggest challenge for this is capturing the African features without seeming stereotypical, or just drawing a white girl with black skin (like I did here). I also think that darker skin tones can be a lot more challenging because you can't get to a bright white on highlights without creating a chalky appearance. I still think she could be a little more "luminent" and less yellow, but maybe that's a different painting because the colors seem to be working pretty well in this.