Faces & Figures 8+

Portfolio

Aria Luna continues to explore world cultures and diverse ethnicities. These are her latest studies of the human face.

Extra points if you can guess what the “8+” in the title above refers to.

Zahara
Warrior of the Sunset
Tryx
Geisha
Melissa
Eye studies

Zahara

2020
Oil pastels and watercolor on paper
18 x 12 in | 45.7 x 30.5 cm

• Image 1: Zahara
• Images 2-4: Zahara in progress
• Image 5: Close-up of Zahara’s eyes

On Zahara, in Aria’s words: Ever since I was little I drew faces and people in all different kinds of colors: black, brown, red, ivory, white. I don’t understand why people get so mad and hateful toward people who don’t look like them. It’s common sense… why does it matter what color your skin is? It’s just your appearance, it doesn’t determine what kind of person you are. Imagine if all the humans on the planet were one color. Imagine if an artist only had one color to paint with. Or a musician only one instrument to play.

I think that would be pretty boring. #BLM!

Warrior of the Sunset

2019
Watercolor and sharpie on paper
14 x 11 in
35.6 x 27.9 cm

A stunning portrait of a Maasai warrior silhouetted against the sunset. Aria Luna couldn’t travel to Africa for this piece; she was at summer camp exploring different world cultures. But she would have loved to meet a real Maasai warrior. Maybe one day…

And who knew sharpies could do art this well!

Tryx

2019
Color pencil on paper bag
10.6 x 5.1 in
27 x 13 cm

Tryx, a character in one of Aria Luna’s stories she’s working on at school.

This sure flips the concept of “back-of-the-envelope” on its little paper bag head.

Geisha

2019
Oil pastels on paper
18 x 12 in
45.7 x 30.5 cm

Another work from the summer camp where the kids explored world cultures through art. This is a Japanese geisha.

Melissa

2019
Pencil on paper
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.6 x 14 cm

Portrait of a young girl.

Studies of the human eye

2019
Various media

Images 1 & 2: oil pastels on paper
8.5 x 11 in | 21.6 x 27.9 cm

Image 3: pen and ink on paper
5 x 7 in | 12.7 x 17.8 cm

Image 4: color pencil on notebook paper
8.5 x 6.5 in | 21.6 x 16.5 cm