the artist’s life
March 2016 11Tanja Gant was a fi nalist in The Artist’s Maga-
zine’s Annual Competition. See more of her
work at tanjagant.com and submit your own
best work to our competitions at artistsnet-
work.com/competitions.
See No Evil is from my series loosely
depicting the famous aphorism “See
no evil; hear no evil; speak no evil.” I
i nd that it rel ects the world we live
in today. With so much negativity,
it’s sometimes easier to cope by not
seeing it at all.
In order to create an atmosphere
of anxiety and foreboding and to
draw the viewer in, I decided to
closely crop the image and keep the
palette minimal. Dramatic lighting
and an austere background also help.
h e subject’s hands cover his face,
implying distress and hopelessness.
See No Evil was done on smooth
bristol board, which allows me to
create dif erent textures as well as
i ne details. I sketched the outline
directly onto the paper and then
applied light, transparent layers
using Prismacolor Premier colored
pencils, alternating warm and cool
colors until I achieved the desired
saturation and depth.
ABOVE: See No Evil (colored pencil on
board, 13x9½)
Choosing Not To See