Historical Fatties!

Fat positive, Historically accurate, All around awesome

[historicalfatties]

Quick train sketch!

Trendy late 50s lady, sporting pedal pushers and an Audrey Hepburn haircut!

Tombow art markers on cotton paper Anne Lillian 2017

[historicalfatties]

Mid century fatty! Woot.

[historicalfatties]

Quick train sketch! Trendy late 50s lady, sporting pedal pushers and an Audrey Hepburn haircut! Tombow art markers on cotton paper Anne Lillian 2017

[theseportraits]

Rosa Naynon, Vaudeville bird act, 1907, J. Willis Sayre Photographs

[historicalfatties]

Okay, so someone suggested a Latina woman in the 1940s, and I cannot find the message asking, so here it is for whoever asked!  I love the idea.

This style of evening costume - with the bare midriff - was hugely popular for Hollywood stars like Barbara Stanwyck and Rita Hayworth.  This pose and gown are modeled off Hayworth.  It’s an alternate universe where Hayworth kept her father’s Hispanic last name, didn’t dye her hair red to hide her heritage, and was fat!  I would so go see movies in that universe. 

Watercolor and ink on cotton paper, 2013 Anne Lillian

[historicalfatties]

Re-post

[historicalfatties]

Gibson girl, circa 1905

Charles Dana Gibson defined the “perfect woman” of the early Edwardian era with his (often wickedly funny, and always beautiful!) illustrations.  He regularly lampooned society, and I like to think he’d be good with my interpretation of his famous girl.

This painting was hard to approach, since the S-bend corset of the turn of the century was such a specific shape.  And since a fuller bust and hip were fashionable, drawing a fat Gibson Girl is less of a contrast than a fat flapper, say.  But I like this one.  She’s fierce, and sexy, she colors her hair and rouges her face and isn’t ashamed to admit it.  And you’d better believe she’s on the stage.  Not the type of girl you bring home to Mamma.

Watercolor and ink on cotton paper, 2013 Anne Lillian

[historicalfatties]

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[historicalfatties]

Fat flapper!  Dancing her heart out in a nightclub, somewhere around 1925.  A bit of Josephine Baker in the inspiration for this one.  Josephine Baker’s fat sister? 

On a related note, Ethel Waters, in a movie from the 40’s co starring Lena Horne, dancing and being magnificent while fat.  I’ll have to look that up!  It’s a fabulous scene.

Watercolor and ink on cotton paper, 2013 Anne Lillian

[historicalfatties]

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[historicalfatties]

So I’m actually really excited about this one. I wish I could post the inspiration, but that will take some extra tumblr skills… yeah. So hopefully I’ll figure it out later. Anyway, this lovely lady is taken from a group photo of an Edwardian era Native American ladies basketball team! They were so badass and the descriptions of people watching their games are just awesome. I changed the team initials to stand for Fat Acceptance :) aw, yuss.

Edit: here’s the inspiration!  Huzzah!

Aren’t they magnificent?

[historicalfatties]

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[historicalfatties]

Fashionable and elegant woman rocking a Poiret-inspired walking gown, with cute little hat and matching parasol.

circa 1918

Watercolor and ink on cotton paper, 2013 Anne Lillian

This one is inspired by a snarky comic postcard from the late teens, featuring two very overweight women exclaiming something like “If you fell in the ocean the water would rise so much it would wash away Britain!”

So clearly I had to re-imagine those ladies as a beautiful, fashion forward, elegant fat woman.  Fashion is not just for the slender.

[historicalfatties]

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[historicalfatties]

First post of this blog!  A fabulous fat woman rocking a Regency gown, going corset free and not even caring. 

Circa 1805, Ball gown. probably fine muslin.

Watercolor and India ink on cotton paper, 2013

original painting by Anne Lillian.  Feel free to re-post with credit!

[historicalfatties]

This is still one of my favorite doodles, and I'm reposting it (along with some others from 2013 when I started this blog) to inspire myself to keep drawing!

[slimetony]

Puce

[slimetony]

[slimetony]

[slimetony]

Open your fucking eyes people

[jigokuhana]

[historicalfatties]

I'm 90% sure the confusion over puce being a weird chartreuse stems from a crappy YA book I am everyone else read as a kid (I feel like it was a summer reading requirement at some point?) where this girl tries to dye her orange shoes black and they end up a horrible green color and someone tells her it's puce.

[historicalfatties]

This lovely lady is dedicated to all the actors who were told they were too fat to get work, or who suffered through ill fitting costumes and grumpy costume designers/wardrobe people aggravated that their job was made slightly more challenging by a body shape outside their usual experience. This lady wouldn't put up with it, no one should have to! Based on a dress from the early 1920s. I do love reimagining these severely gamine, slender lines on fat bodies! I'm getting fond of these tombow watercolor markers. Good stuff. Anne Lillian, 2017

[historicalfatties]

I'm back! Kind of? I don't know! I was watching a show set in the '50s, so this is a sort of vaguely 50's inspired gown. Not specifically based on any designer. I'm out of town at the moment, and using tombow watercolor brush pens instead of watercolor paints. I like them!

[historicalfatties]

"The Fat Women" (1904) by Igor Graber This is an amazing picture and Graber even thought it one of his best. But by 1906 he refused to display it. I wonder if this is when the standard of beauty STARTED to change.... it would make sense considering the 20's favored a thin 'boyish' even flat chested figure.

[lilyannifer]

Fernando Botero, a Columbian artist born in 1932, is my new favorite everything. I mean, look at this! How have I not seen these remarkable, happy, weird, marvelous, fat and glorious figures before?! I want to live in this world where everyone is fat, sexy as hell, and totally chill. He’s got nudes and more enfattened master copies, as well as original figures. I highly recommend spending a little time on google images checking them all out!

[historicalfatties]

When my wrists are less swollen, I am definitely looking to Botero for historical fattie inspiration! Turns out I probably have rheumatoid arthritis, which has been giving me pretty debilitating hand and wrist pain on and off for a few years. My job involves a lot of sewing and drawing, so I haven’t had the physical energy to draw for fun in a long time! I’m hoping to get back into it…

[gloomypunks-deactivated20220717]

okay so to anyone who thinks that lack of experience justifies not drawing fat people

hi, i’m a fat person who just a year or two ago didn’t draw fat people and i had to teach myself NOT because i wanted to draw my favourite characters

but because i wanted to draw myself and not feel like a liar

Keep reading

[thriftorama]

You are an INCREDIBLE artist and I am honored and delighted to be mentioned here. This is such a vitally important topic. Thank you. 💓

[historicalfatties]

Thank you for sharing this! I used to be really uncomfortable drawing fat bodies too, but now I love it! Well, clearly :)

When I was in college I had a drawing professor who was a huge fan of self portraits. Our final project was a life size self portrait, and I hated it so much. I dithered and did all my other work before finally working on the self portrait, and though we were encouraged to pose nude or with tight clothes I wore a loose dress and did not take much time on the body of my drawing.

My professor talked to me after the final critique, and gently asked why my project wasn't up to the work I'd done earlier in the semester. I told her I hated self portraits and was uncomfortable with them. She looked really sad, though I was so steeped in internalized fatphobia (without realizing it, of course) I didn't understand there was anything unusual or wrong in a fat woman not wanting to stare at her own body for hours and hours while drawing it.

I've started doing self portraits again, for a few reasons, and they are so so helpful. I always loved life drawing, even as an undergrad I liked the fat models more than the slender ones, and being able to look at my own body as a fascinating and unique human form, something to draw and engage with on that visceral level, did a lot for me body acceptance-wise.

My advice to artists who want to draw fat people is look at fat people! Follow fatshion and fat positive blogs, and steep yourself in those images. Let the joy of drawing curves and swells wash over you, and just practicing!

[fuckyeahhistoricalfatladies]

Phebe J. Dunn, 1865

[historicalfatties]

I went to an 1860s style ball once, and I'm pretty sure I looked just like this lady only fatter. Man I should find the pics of that! It was a blast.

[fuckyeahhistoricalfatladies]

Muriel Landers

[historicalfatties]

Isn't she stunning?