Portrait
The objective for this project was to create a portrait that encompasses the nature of the subject and includes a quotation from them.
My subject was Audrey Hepburn, who lived many lives within one and was a very dimensional character outside of her life in the spotlight.
The visual language that I knew I wanted to convey was a more illustrative one that was in between geometric and organic. This was an initial sketch that served as a guide for the stylization of the portrait.
This was the first draft where I explored the style of using lines and shapes to help the movement and composition of the portrait.
The motif that I wanted to carry through was the dwindling line or "life line."
Upon further research, I learned that Audrey Hepburn had worked with UNICEF along with many other organizations to help donate food to children in third world and war torn countries. She herself grew up in food scarcity during World War 2 in Poland, and focused on philanthrophy throughout her life during and after her time as an actress.
I kept the dwindling line motif, but wanted to portray her in a more bubbly and girly sense in contrast to her more serious side as she worked with children.
However, this only appealed to a certain side of her that the public saw: a happy, doe-eyed girl.
Audrey Hepburn lived two lives, one where she was an actress and one where she dedicated her life to serving other people. Rather than exaggerated emotion, I decided for the final iteration to keep the serious tone, but have some of her classic doe-eyed expression.
Two lives called for two heads, one where she is younger and one where she is older. I had the idea to have her leaning on her older portrait's shoulder, with both heads intertwined in the dwindling line, as a nod to her maternal side as she cared deeply for children— both her biological and UNICEF children.
The more muted colors with slight pastel tones feel serious but calm and align with the expressions on the two faces.
I created an alternate presentation of the two heads as a playing card to further the duality aspect of her life.