tribute to a cream-filled-doughnut-filled girl

when i saw this instagram photo of a newly-pregnant jenna joseph, i was blown away. the shadows playing across her face and the backdrop of cool-toned green foliage were the perfect compliments to her flawless golden-hour dewy peach-kissed face. out of the blue that wonderful, elusive and sporadic thing called “motivation” hit me like a basketball in the face and my colored prismacolors and drawing paper were dragged from their long-stagnant hiding places.

but for some reason that motivation came in the form of a polaroid-photo-sized drawing, barely bigger than the palm of my hand.

drawing small is SO DIFFICULT. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into when i began. it’s hard enough doing the minute details on a normal-sized portrait, but if you have to draw a face that is approximately the size of your thumb, and still want it to be recognizable? almost impossible. to this day i still can’t see jenna when i look at my drawing, but hopefully it’s only because i’ve stared at it critically for far too long.

this small portrait took me so many hours, and the green backdrop was almost the death of me, but i really am in love with the results. i still can’t exactly see jenna but i’m proud of myself for getting into as much detail as i possibly could. i definitely learned the importance of keeping your pencils sharp.

anyways, this is for you, jenna: my birthday twin and #makeupgoals and the one who proved tyler wrong and the person-who-lowkey-looks-like-my-mom. i’m so excited for your little girl due in february and you’re going to be a beautiful momma.

here’s a progress photo and the finished piece:

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also included is jenna where she is currently hanging on the wall above my desk (over her husband and next to whitney houston) and upside down (for some reason the drawing looks 10x better upside down??)

“for you, i’d go, write a slick song just to show you the world,” -tyler joseph, smithereens

“she’s the tear in my heart, i’m alive, she’s the tear in my heart, i’m on fire, she’s the tear in my heart, takes me higher, than i’ve ever been.” -tyler joseph, tear in my heart

drawn by jul in colored pencil ❤

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