I love fashion and fashion illustration. I think that is obvious in my art, but you might be surprised to learn that my style is actually influenced by ball-jointed dolls, and not fashion models. Let me share a little bit of Pinkyhoot’s origin story with you today!
Before stumbling upon Pasha Setrova and her PashaPasha dolls, I toggled between drawing realistic proportioned women, and 9-head fashion figures. I struggled with finding the “it” factor for my art style. I felt that when I drew realistic proportions, my art was passive and timid, but when I drew fashion figures, well they looked just that, like fashion figures ready for a collection critique, instead of art galleries. I was lost and knew that I had to evolve.
The first time I saw Pasha Setrova’s sculpture was at the LA Art Show in 2017. I remember gasping when I laid my eyes on a 3-ft tall stick thin woman cast in hot pink resin - naked and accented with gold. The seemingly fragile body was in a simple pose, but she looked so fierce and so full of attitude. She stirred something in my heart, and I fell in love with her and the artist, hard.
PashaPasha dolls are so unique, each one of them is a highly valued art piece. They are effortlessly sexy, nonchalant, beautiful, fragile, fierce, troubled, and defiant all at once. I wanted to draw them. I wanted to be like them. Through PashaPasha dolls, I have discovered an entire world of ball-jointed dolls, and have been sketching them since.
My art style has grown and evolved with these pseudo realistic ball-jointed dolls as my muses. I want to capture the juxtaposition of conflicting forces present in ball-jointed dolls in my art. I imagine them as ethereal beings going on fantastical adventures in magical foreign lands, commanding attention and
followings of exotic flora and adorable fauna, living in those lands. This has really become the cornerstones of my art and style.
And yes one day, I will own one of her dolls! I promised to treat myself. =)