“If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention.”
A quote from one of my favourite movies, spoken by one of my favourite Black women, Whoopi Goldberg.
I don’t even know where to start when it comes to expressing how much I admire Whoopi. Her body of work is so extensive, I could write about her for days. But what solidified my admiration was something much simpler.
When she said, “I don’t want somebody in my house,” in response to being asked about marriage, I felt that. SAME.
She said something many women quietly feel but don’t always say out loud. And she’s been that kind of woman for decades, outspoken, unconventional, and entirely herself.
When I chose this reference photo, I didn’t have a grand reason beyond one thing: she’s naturally beautiful. No eyebrows and all.
For this style study, I wanted to approach it differently from my previous Nina Simone and Eartha Kitt pieces. So in the timelapse, you’ll see me break down the creation process and the choices behind it.
So please enjoy, and kindly ignore the random video glitch audio cutouts courtesy of my $25 Amazon digital camera. We’re working with what we’ve got over here.
Brushes ✨
RizzCraft (https://www.truegrittexturesupply.com/products/rizzcraft)
