This illustration is a call to every woman in the world to fight for her rights without fear. It is also, like the majority of my works, a tribute to all curvy women and body positivity. It features the Danish model and activist Amalie Have, @scandinaviandreamgurl ready to fight on behalf of all women and create a change in modern society.

All my works are related to body positivity, but I wanted to collaborate with Amalie to create an empowering illustration supporting women’s liberation and feminism. I chose to use the photo of Amalie holding a bat for my drawing because it was a very powerful image.

Here are some words from Amalie about the photo:
"The photo behind this illustration is symbolizing the female body still not being liberated. The right to free abortion is still something many women don't have access to. Just like girls and women around the world are beaten, raped and killed - daily. That’s why I am holding a bat. I am ready to fight for women getting the full control and basic human rights over their own bodies.” @scandinaviandreamgurl

We had different messages for the illustration like "Feminism", "Ready to fight sexism", or "Kill sexism" but finally I chose "GRLPWR" because I thought it was the most powerful, visually speaking.

In terms of style and colors for the illustration, I tend to work in a similar style for a while before introducing small changes and moving on to a new, slightly different style. At that particular time I was using light, soft colors with some simple shadows, as well as my usual strong, clean lines.

The whole process was digital. Currently I'm using Clip Studio Paint for the entire process of creating artworks. The computer is a Surface Pro 3, which has a digital pen that I use to draw directly on the screen.

I made the artwork by doing an initial sketch of Amalie, the model, based on the photo. I then developed several sketches with different compositions and fonts. At the beginning the design was totally different, with bigger fonts on top of the model’s image, however, by the end I had decided to give more importance to the model and put the message into the background behind her. Finally, I redrew everything with more detail and added color.

The project was well received, and I got positive feedback from a lot of women who saw the picture, despite the fact that my audience was fairly small at the time the illustration was published.

Regarding the illustration itself and the process, I don't usually use words and patterns in my work so it was interesting to experiment with them.

Antonio Páramo

My work celebrates the beauty and bodies of the unconventional people who love who they are and don't care what others say about them.

I also believe that it is my duty as an artist to send out a message of positivity - Regardless of race, sexuality, gender, size, I draw and paint as a sign of respect for the subjects of my artwork.

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