Creating Third Rock from the Sun – 15-02-24

Website link: https://corneakkers.com/2024/02/16/third-rock-from-the-sun-15-02-24/
Printable: https://corneakkers.com/product/printable-third-rock-from-the-sun-15-02-24/

My Compliments

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Third Rock from the Sun – 15-02-24’ I wanted to create for a long time. However, caught up in some projects in oil I had some time to think about the execution. First, let me start with complementing model Nina and her photographer. You probably know her from the series I made last year. If you like you can visit her website. She had a new photoshoot published and I saw one photo that got my attention. What a great lighting and thanks for letting me use it!

Rembrandt’s & Vemeer’s Legacy

Living in The Netherlands it’s imposssible to escape the legacy of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Surely not the inventors of chiaroscuro effects but they took lighting to another level. So no surprise there they are world famous. Consequently I became fascinated by the light too. So much so that I dedicated almost my entire work to it. So there it was, a great model, great lighting and now a theme. Deviating from the picture I felt was necessary. It always does because sheer copying isn’t my bag. This was the first time after ‘Neo Deco 18-10-23’ I used bristol paper again. I had it in me to combine that to the slightly angular approach I used in ‘Nina – 12-09-23’. This way I could use all the fantastically highlighed elements without the necessity to invent nifty cubist forms.

The Whole World in Your Hands

As always, whilst drawing I came up with an idea. Instead of the motorized house buddy she was holding in her hands I thought of mother earth. If you have reached this section of my art statement you most certainly care for environmental issues as well. Sometimes you have to listen to the universe. And so it came to be halfway through the drawing I listen to a news item on sea level rise. As artist I can be powerful and highlight that topic for a change. Not the first time though and perhaps you remember ‘Yeast – 18-09-19’. There you have it, the whole world in your hands AKA The Third Rock from the Sun. Threat her carefully!

Graphite pencil (Faber Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil 14B) drawing on Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers