Experimentation

One day, as I made a habit of keeping my sketchbook on hand, ready to sketch whenever the moment struck, I found myself in need of some inspiration. I turned to my trusty app, Pinterest. I went straight to a new board I had recently filled up with quotes in cool, trendy typography. As I scrolled through, one quote stood out to me: “Today, do something today that brings you closer to God.” I knew exactly why I had saved this quote—it was exactly what I needed to hear. It felt like a reminder to return to simplicity, to focus on what truly matters. The moment I read it, I felt grounded and peaceful.

I decided to simply copy the quote, exactly as I saw it, into my sketchbook, but as I looked at it, something felt like it was missing. So, I went to another board I’d filled with images of faces—mostly beautiful, joyful women. Smiles, moments of happiness, faces captured in time. As I looked through these faces, I realized the sketch of the quote would be perfect with a face behind it. Specifically, two women’s smiling faces.

I sketched the two faces on top of the quote, but as I continued, I realized I wanted to make the faces feel more integrated into the art. So, I made sure to draw them as they would appear if in front of the letters of the words of the quote, but they wouldn’t actually be seen.

When I finished the sketch, it felt complete. It felt right. Though it was pretty evident that I was experimenting with all the nearly invisible erased lines, the combination of the quote and the faces, blending the two together, created something I hadn’t expected. It was the perfect balance of words and image, of simplicity and depth.

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