Persephone
(Goddess Study I)
Ballpoint pen on paper

This was the first piece in a goddess series I started exploring—Persephone. It was also the first time I really zoomed out and let the headdress become part of the statement, not just a background detail. I wanted it to feel ceremonial: the halo of light, the clustered forms radiating outward, the sense that she’s standing at the center of something old and powerful.

What I like about this drawing is the balance. Persephone’s face stays calm and grounded while everything around her feels busy, blooming, and slightly otherworldly. The linework does that thing I love—soft where it needs to be soft, then dark and dense where the shadows have to carry weight. The hands pull it all back into something human and intimate, like a quiet prayer in the middle of a myth.

If I were to take another crack at it, I’d push the shoulders further. They look good, but they’re the area where I can feel myself playing it safe. More texture, more pattern, more depth—something that matches the intensity of the crown and the hair. This one feels like the beginning of the series for a reason: it works, but it also shows me exactly where the next one can go.

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