Tag Archives: portrait drawing

Berliner Kinder: zoom-drawing the cutest Skeleton Zombie family in town!

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Zombie Skeleton family of Berlin by Suzanne Forbes April 22 2021This was the first time I drew my friend Sadie Lune’s whole brood!

Her second child joined the family two years ago, and is seen here with a cherished Elmo. We had been planning a family portrait painting to begin last winter… but.

Instead, Sadie and Vampirina, the older sib, did a zoom modeling session for me at Halloween.

Zombie Skeleton family of Berlin on couch by Suzanne Forbes April 22 2021Then we organized this zoom posing session for the kids’ winter break in March.

Of course, whether kids can even go to kita, or go back to kita, is constantly in flux. Sadie has been able to take the kids to the country village home of a friend much of this last year, so they have had incredible experiences with nature and animals and wildlife. Her photos and videos of the lilacs blooming, the kids with ponies, and the German countryside have been incredibly sustaining to me as I have spent this year-and-change indoors.

Zombie Skeleton family of Berlin in graveyard by Suzanne Forbes April 22 2021Vampirina requested a graveyard background for one of the drawings.

I did my best! I am so grateful to know and love Sadie Lune and her brood, and her older child’s co-parents. You can see Sadie’s work and social here: website, insta, twitter. Drawing Sadie when she was pregnant with the younger here!

 

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support lets me keep documenting Queer Berlin while I work safely at home.

Live-drawing Hungry’s first ever live twitch stream!

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Hungry first twitchstream by Suzanne Forbes March 6 2021I am of course a huge fan of Berlin superstar Hungry.

I have drawn her from life, at Bushwig Berlin in 2019, and from her Insta Live.

So when she teased to her Patreon Patrons (I’ve been a Patron from the first day!) that she was gonna do a twitch stream for the first time, I had to draw it.

It is absolutely fascinating to watch Hungry do a face.

Hungry first twitchstream by Suzanne Forbes March 6 2021 detailThe way she uses organic forms and color to transform the planes and features of her beautiful, symmetrical face is mesmerizing.

I love the way she moves her eyes visually, with effects like this white eye-liner false waterline and lashes. She lays on areas of color or shadow and they become something totally unexpected!

Since twitch streams stay up for two weeks, you can watch the magic yourself- I highly recommend the experience!

However, I struggled with her likeness this time. I did an initial take on the structure of her face and felt I’d gotten it wrong. Of course, as I was drawing, Hungry’s features moved in and out of prominence, eyebrows glued down, lips being covered with foundation, and so on, but that wasn’t a problem last time.

This is the rough I discarded; looking at it now I think it was better than the structure from my second try!Hungry first twitchstream rough draft by Suzanne Forbes March 6 2021

But that’s portraiture; you do it and do it to get better, and you draw the same people over and over to learn how to draw them, and that’s the process.

As Sargent said, “A portrait is a picture with a little something wrong with the mouth.”

I was able to spend two hours on the twitch stream drawing and documenting this unique Queer Berlin artist because of my Patreon Patrons. Thank you, so much!