Rituals of the Gaze

This portrait series began as a way for me to slow down and focus on details I am drawn to in beauty imagery, particularly eyeshadow, hair, and the way a gaze can convey expression even when it barely changes. All of the portraits depict women, and I used a limited brown color palette with a similar viewing angle, allowing small differences to become more noticeable.

I started the project using colored pencils and enjoyed the softness and imperfections of working by hand. Due to work commitments, I temporarily paused the project, and when I returned to it, I chose to continue digitally in Procreate. The shift in medium was not planned, but it reflects how I work in practice, moving between analog and digital tools depending on time, context, and intention.

Instead of reworking the earlier drawings, I allowed the differences to remain. The final series became less about creating perfect portraits and more about observation and iteration. By repeating the gaze and composition, I could focus on makeup as a quiet form of expression, showing how subtle changes in color and shape can suggest mood, character, or attitude.