Marathon 8

This is a visually stunning piece, but what captivates me the most here are the intersections.
Most obviously, there is the intersection of media: the traditional pen and ink colored digitally. But this is not just another piece sketched out in the physical realm and perfected in the digital like so many other pieces. The raw directness of the pen and ink original is retained in the final product. We can see the artist's exploration of the nude subject with the pen. There is real confidence in the pen strokes that define the chin and the neck. There is a bit of tentative searching in the less defined, rougher torso. And there is playfulness in both the hair and the legs where small shapes make this more than just a sketch record of a place and a time. The artist is interacting with the model, sometimes touching, sometimes teasing.


This interaction is strengthened and then enhanced by the digital color. The overall hues are kept to a simple orange/blue complimentary palette with clear delineation between the subject and the background. Overall. this makes for an eye catching appearance, and I'll admit that the colors were what first grabbed my attention. But because of the rich texture and variation of both value and intensity of the colors, my attention shifts to the inked lines which define those spaces. I really admire how the color supports the inking, rather than competing or overpowering it. There is real balance here.

There are also the intersections of form; the model intersects the plane of the background at the foot, the torso is at a 90 degree intersection with the legs. It all makes for a dynamic piece despite the the vertical axis.

The only part of the drawing that bugs me are the lines where the shoulder meets the upper arm. There's a heaviness to these lines which feels out of step with the rest of the piece and it keeps drawing my eye back awkwardly to that location. However, given that the rawness of the lines is what makes this so powerful, I think that manipulating them would diminish the piece.

Well done.