Art Supplies/References

Do I need more art supplies?

YES! One always needs more art supplies!

In fact, I'm a lightweight--I got rid of so much stuff when I moved a year and a half ago, I only have a few pans of watercolors.

Inspired by Sarah's faces sketched with watercolor pens, I ordered watercolor pens on ebay (slightly less expensive).
Floral, Essentials, and a couple 6-packs, Brights, and Earth.

I want to practice drawing people (humans, not doll people).
I don't know that I'd ever get good enough to illustrate Murderbot, but that's my motivation.

I continue to look for models for characters in Murderbot.
One is Dr. Bharadwaj. I looked up the name and found an amazing Indian lawyer (below, left), Sudha Bharadwaj, and alongside, another, Menaka Guruswamy, whose expressions fit Murderbot's description of one of its crew--a lawyer named Pin-Lee.*

Here is Guruswamy, below right, glammed up for Time, with her law– and life partner, lawyer Arundhati Katju: 

They were part of a team of lawyers who led the successful case to decriminalize homosexuality in India (2018)--which British colonial rule had made illegal (Time article):

“I am what I am so take me as I am,” said the Chief Justice of India as the Supreme Court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in a unanimous vote.
An outdated legacy of the British colonization of India, Section 377 rendered all sexual activities “against the order of nature” punishable by law."

This is the look that really fits the character:

"Pin-Lee" sounds Chinese to me, but I can't find the name...

A-ha. I changed the spelling to Pin-Li.
That's better: "Li /Chinese, 李 is the second most common surname in China as of 2018, behind Wang."

Li Pin is a famous Chinese poet (818–876) Wikipedia (another article that could use help).

And another famous poet named Li (there are lots), 12th-century writer Li Qingzhao, a woman who here has a sharp look like Murderbot describes Pin-Lee having:

Via Stanford article:
"She wrote boldly about nature, love and longing with verses like these from song lyric no. 43:

I've heard spring is still lovely at Twin Streams,
I'd like to go boating in a light skiff there
But fear the tiny grasshopper boats they have
Would not carry
Such a quantity of sorrow."

And one more Pinli--a clothing company--could be a good reference for the sort of clothes Murderbot wears---soft hoodies and work pants.
I suppose, too, the models model the "SecUnit standard neutral expression" too.

I'm off to work now!