Portait of Super Model Archana Akhil Kumar (Digital Art and Process)

in art •  7 years ago 

Hello Fellow Steemians!

Today I want to share a portrait I made of supermodel Archana Akhil Kumar, an Indian Model from Bangalore who is taking the fashion world by storm

She participated in the Lakme Fashion Week 5 years in a row and has graced the covers of numerous magazines.

archana kumar7.jpg

She is quite the beauty isn't she?

archana-akhil-kumar-kstj-grazia-young-fashion-awards-2014.jpggrazia-india-archana-akil-pankaj-nidhi.jpgkanishtha-archana-gucci-verve-marie-claire.jpg
Images from highheelconfidential.com

The reason I decided to paint her is simply because dusky and darked skinned ladies are not celebrated in India. Its a sad reality, so as a dusky woman , it makes me happy to see such beauties killing it in the entertainment and fashion industry.
It's high time India stopped favouring only one fair skin tone as the standard of beauty.

Reference:

archana kumarphoto.jpg

Process:

The first step to making my art pieces is always making a rough sketch.

archana kumar1.jpg

Then I added the base colours for her hair, skin, eyes, lips, jewellery and clothes.

archana kumar2.jpg

In the next few steps, I built on the colours using the reference picture as a guide. The idea is to create volume and make it look as realistic as possible using tints and shades and highlights.

archana kumar3.jpg

archana kumar4.jpg

archana kumar5.jpg

archana kumar6.jpg

Then I finished up the background, added minor details and VOILA!

archana kumar7.jpg

So right after I was done making this portrait I uploaded it on Instagram and within an hour or two the supermodel herself commented on it!!

Untitled.jpg

My first reaction was to scream, I was SO happy. This portrait took me MONTHS to finish, and the response made it totally worth it.

This portrait is very close to my heart, because of the sentiments attached to it. Dark skin ladies are beautiful,its high time Indians understood that.

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments section, I'd like to see conversations happening. :)
If you liked what you just saw please upvote and resteem this post, and click follow!
Help a young artist on Steemit.

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krishnendu_kj/

If you'd like to check out my last art post : https://steemit.com/art/@krishnendukj/a-cartoonized-self-portrait-digital-art-and-process

Have a great day!

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Archana akhil Kumar is the toast of the modeling world and has walked the ramp for Indian's top designer.

Beautiful as always! It's so strange to hear that a culture with such rich beautiful tones would want to be light! Everyone in my neck of the woods who is white, goes to tanning booths to be darker! I have been a pasty red head all my life and I would love to have a darker complexion! You are killing it with your posts! Keep it up!

Thank you! Oh the obsession with lighter skin is real. That's why skin lightening creams, even though they don't work, sell like hot cakes!

Honestly, you gave it more life than the photograph did! Looks amazing. I always like watching that step that takes it from filling in the base colors to adding the volume and layers. The transformation is wonderful.

Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoy the process. :)

Great post and great piece! :)

Thank you!

I found this your resteem comment to @abasinkanga. I've always had a respect for artists that do the sort of thing that you did here, because it does take so long to complete. And that payoff at the end? Totally worth it! That's awesome and I love it!

That’s talent!!

Thank you!

absolutely stunning @krishnendukj it's such a shame to hear anyone would consider a darker skin tone less of a beauty. She is a knock out and you did a fantastic job with the shading,lighting and tints. This is seriously hard work - I am trying to learn but it is very difficult and you do it flawlessly!

Thank you so much @amariespeaks. It is really frustrating i tell you, lots of dark skinned people are discriminated against and bullied. The sales of fairness creams is at an all time high.
Actually, this is quite easy to do with practice and once you figure out the basics :)

I had quite the opposite experience here, I was always told I was too pale and needed a tan LMAO these people are never satisfied - we just gotta love ourselves the way we are and send love out to everyone else no matter what they look like :)

I'll keep practicing - I'm much better with watercolors and pencils but once I take it to the computer nothing looks a good lol you're an inspiration to me to keep trying - and the step by step really does help me to see how the building process goes

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so cool!

Amazing work!! She's gorgeous!!

Hello! I'm an artist and I have been on Steemit for a year now and I really want to make a bigger difference on Steemit. So I'm hoping for your help with SP delegation while you're away :)

• I upvote and resteem lots of great content on Steemit, mostly art related as that is my main strength. I will continue curating as always, but on a bigger scale.
• I've held a variety of contests, bringing community together. I currently host fun random weekly contest for which I hope to increase the rewards.
• I market myself by rewarding my followers, instead of buying any votes.
• I will never self upvote more than once per day.

Here is the delegation link in case you decide to delegate: https://steembottracker.com/delegation.html
I hope to see you back on Steemit again :D

I'm also considering making some giveaways especially for delegates and I'm open to requests ^^

Thank you for you time and have a great day!

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