Malala

I was in the mood to draw a portrait recently to try and get me out of a bit of a block ( it worked!) and who better to draw than Malala Yousafzai?! For me, she is an incredibly inspiring woman because of her work for female education and equality. Therefore, for this portrait I felt it was important to successfully capture her determined expression to pay tribute to her work and bravery.

I was inspired by the amazing illustrations of Isabelle Arsenault (check out her work here) to try working a lot of texture into the portrait. I did this by using multiple layers of watercolour and coloured pencil. I have really been enjoying this combination recently.

I am really pleased with the finished piece. I think it is probably the strongest portrait I have ever done thanks to the texture, colours and the expression. I hope it does Malala justice!

Thanks for reading!