MIA ESCOBAR

At the moment, I am mostly attracted to portraits. I am fascinated by faces and if I am absolutely honest, I can’t help but love them. An artist and old friend once told me when you draw someone, you sort of own them, possess them. It sounds strange, but indeed I have felt it, a compulsory need to trap them in paper. To not let them go. My process is simple: I see a face I love, and I have to draw it. There is no intensity. No grand speech. I seek high contrast images and focus on their light instead of their shadow. First, I apply white pastel for a base layer. Then I work on the whitest whites and darkest darks, using white or black Prismacolor, charcoal and. pastel. Once the light and shadow areas are established I proceed to apply layer after layer of white to fight the black and I use brushes to get the smooth look. Each drawing is highly detailed, so they require time (over 30 hours), layers, and finely sharpened materials. And that’s all.