Sketches / Joan Crawford by Eve Arnold in Ballpoint Pen

A little pen drawing of Joan Crawford from my sketchbook, and by sketchbook I mean random sheets of scrap paper I stuff into my purse. From an Eve Arnold book I was flipping through at the library. I've been using the Stabilo Liner 808 F pens a lot lately, seriously best and cheapest ballpoint pen around, they're $2 at the stationery store here.

Painting / Women I've Wanted to Be: Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn, 2014.

Kitty N. Wong
Gouache, pencil and ink on paper.

A new painting I just finished last night from my series "Women I've Wanted to Be".

When I was really little I thought Madonna was Marilyn Monroe but then in middle school when I grew up and discovered the joys of old movies, I wanted nothing more than to be Marilyn Monroe (not Madonna), I memorized all of her movies, took extensive notes of her outfits and tried in vain to cultivate a breathy trans-Atlantic accent.

I think Marilyn Monroe hasn't the hardest face to draw, it's like her features are all too porportional no one can make an accurate representation, or maybe we see too many images of her so we all of such a clear idea of what it should look like. Like hands, hands are so hard to draw because they are so familiar to us and our taste level for what hands should look like are set really high.

30 Day Drawing Challenge | The Rose of the Orient

For the 30 Day Drawing Challenge I've decided to stop taking the themes so literally and instead use them as a jumping off point to see where my imagination takes me. It's so much more enjoyable this way and I think the illustrations come out much more pleasing and more to my style. For Day 17: Favourite Plant, I thought flowers and then remembered this beautiful photograph I saw of Anna May Wong on Pinterest. I did the sketch on paper with Chinese ink (how fitting.) and then coloured it on Photoshop.

Anna May Wong is such inspiration both style and career wise. Did you know The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong made U.S. television history as the first show to feature an Asian-American lead, Anna played the titular role as a art dealing detective (total babe!). Sadly, the show is presumed to be lost so we will probably never see her wielding a magnifying glass, but in the meantime feast her eyes on these beautiful old portraits of the star.

That last video there is such a gem! Her voice is classic. Here is a longer version of that Chinese Costume Party video in it's full 1930's racist technicolour (dis)glory.
So who is your favourite old Hollywood screen siren?