Ophelia – 08-12-25

Website link: https://corneakkers.com/ophelia-08-12-25/
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John Everett Millais

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Ophelia – 08-12-25’ is my Shakespearean card up my sleeve I wanted to play for so long. Considering myself to be outside the art community and its non-crafters I always felt attracted to realism and other styles. Take the Pre-Raphaelites for example and John Everett Millais for that matter because I want to talk about him specifically. His interpretation of Ophelia I always found one of the best examples what realism may actually look like. By that I don’t mean sheer copying a photo or scenery but the kind that becomes spirited. I read his story and how long it took to craft his painting. Apparently he studied a specific brook with vegetation on its banks thoroughly in a make-shift cabin. In spite of weather conditions getting worse he kept on going.

Passion

That is passion indeed and it still rubs off looking at it, even after 150-odd years. This could be the kind of passion the world is in need of today. Especially on a level of counterbalancing non-creativity and the lack of skills in today’s art. Well, my passion was to match his painting. However, also adding the aspect of chiaroscuro to enhance the dramatic aspect of the theme. Perhaps that’s because I am a tonal kind of man which cannot be said of Millais. What I liked though was the dark water surrounding the fair skin complexion of the lady at hand.

Taylor Swift, Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue, to Mention a Few

In fact, I have been scrolling through a lot of similar paintings on the theme. Many I found not surpassing Millais level though. Even Friedrich Heyser’s didn’t match my expecations, although Taylor Swift made it popular in recent times. The painting is lush and technically not too bad. How could he have missed the the angle of refraction of light near her face! So many reasons started urging upon me to come up with an interpretation myself. Suddently I remembered ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ by Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. The music video evidentially was based on Millais’ painting. Its scenery and lighting were exactly what directly inspired me to do this one.

New Paper

There was also another reason. Some time ago I bought a new paper block I didn’t know. It’s ‘Lavis’ light grain paper by Clairfontaine. The paper didn’t feel as smooth as Bristol quality but I thought of something else. I suspected my Pitt Graphite Matt 14B Faber-Castell pencil could fill up the tooth of this paper very easily. And upon my word, it did! Still a bit grainy yet fine enough to capture fine details. The result is a ‘dreamy’ kind of lighting where contour delineations are not as harsh as Bristol can offer. Perfect for my interpretation of Ophelia. Done in one session and I felt so motivated. Because of this I kept a lot of structures sketchy, such as the folds and plants. They set off against the delicate face nicely. Rather different from my drawing of Lady Chatterly’s Lover.

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