Bettie page initial drawings and ideas

I begun the brief by producing some quick observational studies from photographs of bettie page.It was interesting and useful to learn more about the way she posed for the camera, her style and expressions. I defiantly found it useful to practice drawing her body and face. - very striking and distinctive look. - i began to study what aspects of her makes her unique?
- using different media - thinking about how this could compliment her. -black ink? - dramatic, and could work quite expressively.
-coloured pencil - good look for erie?

- I became most interested in her more natural pictures. - where her personality is coming through - when she's laughing, or looking more vulnerable. The troubled side of bettie Page is lesser know, but this side of her really interests me. who was the real bettie page?

Where to go with the roughs?
- Take inspiration from initial factual research - and aspects of her life /of her that i found the most intriguing.
- Try and stay away from the obvious? -(or begin that way and expand)
mental health - schizophrenic
abused married 4 times
aspiring acrtess - taken advantage of?
mental hospital

Although concept was considered, think that these visuals are too obvious representations. needed to strip it back. think more about the emotion i want to communicate, and how i could achieve this. - less background distraction?
- I Stumbled upon the artist mark demsteader, who's pieces are so raw and emotive. he displays this conveys this through mark making. His work has inspired me to create some demsteader influcended paintings of bettie page.
- using charchoal - really enjoyed being expressive with the media. marks help convey her darker side. - Could use this kind of mark making to represent her angry and illness taking over.

so far most of my tests and experiments have been  representational interpretations, - need to start incorporating conceptual ideas into visuals.
- In a way, i think that For this Project bettie page is quite a difficult person. She isn't known for achieving things in her life. - i feel lie its difficult to get away from the obviousbecasue she is famous for her looks so its hard to get away from her visual appearance.

-Think her figure will defiantly be a prominent bases of each pieces - but also want to go beyond that. - take it further than the appearance.
- Next stage is wrestling with this idea - after initially creating roughs realised how hard this will be. Finding the right balance. - a subtlety.
- metal illness - such a difficult subject to handle. - don't want to take over. - make problems specifically to Betties life. - its about capturing her emotion