The Pencil Test
The pencil test is an urban myth which determines if a woman's breasts are perky or saggy.
My inspiration for the artwork came from an article by Scott McCloud where he writes that the more iconic the representation of a character looks (i.e. a silhouette versus a photo of a person), the easier it is for a greater majority of people to identify with the image. This facilitates the viewer's ability to project themselves into the image, and since the article's target audience is a large majority of women, the figures depicted in the art needed to be iconic enough so any woman could imagine herself in their place.
With this idea in mind, I decided to depict the characters in the illustrations more like mass-produced dolls (akin to the Barbies most girls grow up with), which look unblemished, identical and ultimately unremarkable. The only difference between the dolls is their breasts, evoking the idea that a person's “flaws” are what make them unique and ultimately beautiful.
These illustrations were done to accompany the article "The Pencil Test," written by Sofia Resnick forPaperDolls magazine.
The test is conducted by placing a pencil under a breast, and observing if the writing utensil falls to the floor or stays in place after releasing it. These illustrations were created to accompany a magazine article that debunks the myth and delves deeper into issues of skewed media portrayal of women.
My inspiration for the artwork came from an article by Scott McCloud where he writes that the more iconic the representation of a character looks (i.e. a silhouette versus a photo of a person), the easier it is for a greater majority of people to identify with the image. This facilitates the viewer's ability to project themselves into the image, and since the article's target audience is a large majority of women, the figures depicted in the art needed to be iconic enough so any woman could imagine herself in their place.
With this idea in mind, I decided to depict the characters in the illustrations more like mass-produced dolls (akin to the Barbies most girls grow up with), which look unblemished, identical and ultimately unremarkable. The only difference between the dolls is their breasts, evoking the idea that a person's “flaws” are what make them unique and ultimately beautiful.
These illustrations were done to accompany the article "The Pencil Test," written by Sofia Resnick forPaperDolls magazine.
