I wanted to do a piece that turns an insult into something more motivational. For context, to be called a strawberry is associated with being weak and sensitive, as strawberries are soft and easily bruised.
After a year of drawing pretty much nothing due to artblock/burnout that came after a few years of battling my mind to be able to draw, this drawing marked me finally being able to return to art this November 2023 with a fresh mindset of less perfectionisim and more focus on my own enjoyment of the process. I had a limited timespan to work on this, a gift for my grandmother's 80th birthday, as I only began the process the day before I needed to email it across. Compared to the months it has typically taken me to finish anything in more recent years, this presented an extra motivation to abandon "perfect" in favour of "good enough". It's not as detailed as some of my prior works, but given the limited timespan and that I'm out of practice I am nonetheless happy with the result. As usual, I combined a graphite and ink drawing with digital colour+shading.
There's a series, one of many, I've been slowly getting the motivation to work on. This character is one of a few. I'm going to working on facial expressions and then full body drawings.
I highly recommend the book, Gender and Competition: How Men and Women Approach Work and Play Differently, by Kathleen J. DeBoer.
In it, among other things, she elucidates that those with a conceptually masculine perspective (regardless of sex) are drawn to thinking of the world in hierarchies, which I have represented here with a triangle in the mind of the spotter on the left. She elaborates that those with a conceptually feminine perspective (again, regardless of sex) are draw to thinking of the world in webs, which I have represented here with a circle.
Those that think more masculine-ly are more likely to expect beginners in a sport or field to prove themselves in the group. They will often not "hold their punches" (i.e. curb their ability) to make newcomers comfortable. All members of the group are expected to "earn their keep," in a sense. When a member of the group exceeds expectations, they move up in the hierarchy.
Contrary to that, those that think more feminine-ly likely show acceptance and approval to beginners in order to foster an environment in which they will perform. They will often adjust their skills so that newcomers can more readily "keep up." When a member of the group exceeds expectations, they are expected to raise the status of the group as a whole. The playing field is "flattened" in that sense.
I am not advocating for either perspective, but I will share that I have a more conceptually feminine perspective, and that I have previously left groups whose members have a more masculine perspective.
Kathleen's book really helped me personally to understand the motivations of people that I genuinely did not understand prior to reading the book. It put a lot into perspective for me, and I hold fewer grudges these days.
Cheers, fam~
