29 Faces - A quick look back

After deciding to post a compilation image with all the faces I realized that I hadn’t actually drawn 29 different faces. I only finished 26 and I’m OK with that.

Thankfully the rules of the challenge allowed for posting “in progress” images and that’s what I did for the first three faces.  Had that not been allowed, I might not have made it through to the end of the challenge.  I might have gotten discouraged because my drawing was going soooo slowly in the beginning (due to all the erasing I was doing ;).  With practice I learned to erase faster. ha ha

I decided to post only my favorite faces.  Not that I don’t like the others but I think I learned something or did something different with each of these.  I drew a lot of “pretty” girls in this challenge. For my next phase, I think I’d like to try my hand at drawing the more freaky girl, like the one smack dab in the middle. 

I posted at the beginning of the challenge that I had just started taking Suzi Blu’s Portrait 2012 series class. I’m about half way though it now and while I don’t want to copy her style, which I adore by the way, I sure have learned a lot from her about drawing faces and shading.  For some reason, she has a teaching style that I get.  Here’s a link to her ning site, if your interested: http://suziblu.ning.com/

Thank you all for visiting and for your lovely comments. I appreciate every one of them.

29 Faces Day 29 - In profile

Well this is the last day for the 29 Faces challenge and I think I’m going to miss it. Well it’s not the official last day of the challenge, that’s tomorrow. But it’s my last face, my 29th…OMG did I really make it to the end? Can’t believe I did…along with so many others.  I’m proud that we didn’t quit when it would have been easier to do so.  I’m thrilled with the new friends I’ve made and my new followers. Thank you for the follow.

I want to thank Martha, who sponsored and coordinated the 29 faces challenge. Her cool blog is at http://ilove2paint.blogspot.com/  so be sure to visit with her. She also has some awesome videos on her YouTube channel. Click here to go to: Martha's YouTube channel.

This is my one and only profile face. I hope to get better at it as I practice more and I plan to do a lot of practicing.  

29 Faces Day 28 - A quarter difference

I hope you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend. Ours was quite but nice. My daughter, my grandson and I ran through the sprinklers yesterday to cool off. It was a first for Little G but he loved it. We laughed our butts off and by the end we were all soaking wet. Great times.

Here’s a sketch of my first 3/4 face. It’s so much harder to get the eyes, nose and mouth right than I thought it would be.  I’m still not sure I got them right.  Didn’t concentrate on the hair at all so she looks like she just got out of bed….and without having a good time at that. Humph! Oh well, maybe next time.

I’ll take any hints, techniques etc…that you can give on how to make them look better. Thanks. 

 

 

Thank you for visiting and for your encouraging comments.

29 Faces Day 27 He sat reluctantly

My first male face in ages. I’ve only drawn two males faces before. One the face of an old boyfriend and later, one of my sweet husband before he became my husband.  Those were drawn years and years ago. I decided last night that I need to do a male face for this challenge.  I found an image I liked on the internet and went at it.  I didn’t want to recreate the same face, I mostly wanted the hat and clothing of the fellow. The chair back is my addition. I could have added more detail to the chair but was running out of time.

He looks like he’s a little stressed at having to sit for his portrait. He’s got his shoulders hunched up like he’s ready to bolt. This quote fits:

“Few persons who have ever sat for a portrait can have felt anything but inferior while the process is going on.” ~ Anthony Powell

 

I have to say that drawing men is harder than women.

29 Faces - Day 26 Nice 3 day weekend

I hope you all are having a wonderful 3 day weekend. Husband and I are getting a massage later today and I’m looking forward to that. Otherwise, I don’t think we’ll do much, maybe go to a movie and relax.

I have to thank my dear husband, Big G, for getting my car a new battery today. Yesterday when I went to pick up Little G, my grandson, from daycare my car wouldn’t start when we were leaving. The battery was dead. I had to call Big G to come and start the car with jumper cables.  Luckily, he was there in a hurry because it was HOT in the car.  We were on our way in no time thanks to my sweet man.

Here’s my next face with a little Zentangle doodles thrown in.

What are your plans for the weekend?

29 Faces Day 25

Back to the shipping tags.  I love the silky smoothness of the paper used for the tags. I bought these at a rubberstamp store instead of a office supply store. Do they get different paper??  I didn’t think to ask.

I went to Hoppy Lobby the other day to check to see if their “tagboard” paper was the same as these shipping tags but I found that what they had was thinner and not as smooth. So I didn’t spend the money.

Otherwise, I think Bristol or Vellum (not the see through kind) might be a better alternative. I doubt the shipping tags are acid free. 

Here is my day 25 face, she’s a bit older than my other girls but she’d only pose if I promised not to show her wrinkles. :)

Thanks for visiting and all your lovely comments.

29 Faces Day 24 A girlie tree? Hummm

Here’s my newest girl, if she looks a little greenish it’s not because she’s jealous of all the other girls in today’s set of 29 faces lovelies (and they are so lovely). Nope it’s because she’s a girlie tree all the way down to her roots.

If I had it to do over again, the hair/leaves would not be outlined.

I plan to add this quote to the drawing later on:

If art is to nourish the roots
of our culture, society must
set the artist free to follow his
vision wherever it takes him.

~~ John F Kennedy

I'm also linking this to Paint Party Friday.

Thanks for visiting and for your very encouraging comments. I’m soaking them up. :)

29 Faces Day 23 Practice Practice Practice

This is purely a practice face. LOL….No really. I was drawing another face altogether and was looking at hairstyles on the internet and found one I liked.  Before I committed that hair to the other drawing, I wanted to practice it on scrap paper. I grabbed what was closest to me and didn’t care that it had smudges on it because, after all, I was just going to practice drawing hair.

Before I knew it, I had a whole face drawn. Now I wish I’d used clean paper..

Oh well, I still like her. :) 

29 Faces - Day 22 Day turns into night

When I first started this drawing, the background was going to be a daylight-ish color.  Then I made a mistake with the hair shadows….I made the shadows too dark and it looked very weird… so I corrected it by making it a starry night. I guess we have to be flexible, huh?  And don’t make fun of her weird shoulder line…she was born that way. ;-)

Drawn on a shipping tag using Prismacolor colored pencils and a black Derwent Inkense  pencil.

29 Faces - Day 21 Already??

I never thought I’d say this but I‘m going to miss the challenge of drawing a face every day.  I’d love to say that I’ll keep doing it on my own but I know that without the challenge I probably won’t. I need that extra push to make me sit down and draw daily.  I just may have to find another face challenge. Know of one? If so, please let me know.

This is on a shipping tag that is 3.25” x 6.25”.  I love the paper that these tags are made from.  It’s very smooth and erases easily.  

Thanks for visiting.

29 Faces Day 20 - Just a little bit quirky

I don’t usually “try” to create an odd or quirky faces, although I admit sometimes they just come out that way. But this time it’s on purpose. I’ve been so intent on getting it *right* for the last 20 or so days that today I needed to have a little fun with this face.

Meet Glenda:

She’s ATC sized, drawn with colored pencils, and a black pen.

29 Faces Day 19 Yay it’s Saturday

 

Last week was a loooong week. I was so happy to see Saturday! All I did today, besides drawing, was laundry and a little window shopping. It was a nice quiet day…until about 5:30 when Little G. came home with his mama. That little stinker is one noisy little guy.

Finding some quiet time in your life, I think, is hugely important.

~~ Mariel Hemingway

29 Faces - Day 18 back to sketching

Have I mentioned that I really like using a pencil for art?  When I was in college (many, many moons ago) I took a drawing class and really enjoyed it. I don’t know why I stopped drawing after the class. I wish I’d kept it up.

Anyway, during that time, I reproduced a Frank Frazetta poster in pencil and was probably one of my most time consuming works ever (back when I had time and patience.) and one of the best.  Here is a link to the poster I “copied”, it’s name is “Silver Warrior.” I saw it in a book about Mr. Frazetta and I just loved it.

By the way it was copied for my personal use only, which was as drawing practice.  In fact, I still have it somewhere…storage probably??

What I’m leading up is, are we, as art consumers, biased against the pencil arts? I’ve visited many arts shows over the years and yet in all that time I’ve only seen a handful of pencil artists, those who use pencils as their main medium. There are painters of all types including a multitude of watercolorists, oil painters and acrylic artists. They dominate the art market. I wonder why that is?   In my last post I added a link to an artist video and blog who draws the most amazing portraits, including beautiful hair, and yet his blog doesn’t get very many hits or comments. It got me to wondering if there is a bias and if so why? What do you think?

Here’s my face for the day.

29 Faces Day 17 Having a bad hair day

When I first drew this girl, I did her hair with colored pencils and it looked “OK” at 11:00 pm..LOL  When I looked at it the next day, she looked like she was bald up to the middle of her head….yikes. Nothing I did with the pencils helped. So I used acrylics to redo the hair. She no longer looks bald but is it any better?  I don’t think so….now her hair looks like mine…..gray with a bad perm. ha ha ha (I laugh as if it’s really funny…sadly it’s not.)

Be sure to visit Denthe’s blog because she draws awesome faces and hair and is also taking part in the 29 faces challenge. Which is why I begged her for information on how to draw hair and she, very unselfishly, obliged. So I want to give a big thank you shout out to Denthe for sending me a link to an awesome video on how to draw hair.  Too late for this girl but if you’d like to see the video, click here.  Denthe also has the link to the video on her website.

29 Faces Day 16 and the Traveling Art Journal

For this face I switched over to a larger size watercolor paper. It’s drawn on 9.5” x 7.5” sheet. Still using Prismacolor colored pencils for most of the sketch, Neocolor II crayons for the hair and some Titan Buff Golden fluid acrylics mixed with Glazing medium to even out the facial shadows. I also use White gouache for the final highlights. I find the Primacolor white color pencil just doesn’t go on white enough. This was the first time using the watercolor paper and I found that it was too textured for colored pencils.

This page will actually be for the Traveling Art Journal group I’m in. The journal belongs to Sandy. I’ll have to think of some nice quote to go along with it before I mail it off. Any ideas?

Post edited to show quote:

29 Faces Day 15- no clever post title

Another ATC sized face. Tomorrow I will have one that somewhat larger. Although I suppose it’s hard for you to tell what size they are.

I really did mean to make some comments other than the above but I’m really too exhausted from taking care of my grandson to think of anything to say except Big G makes a mean margarita. I needed it after I put Little G to bed.

29 Faces - Day 14 We are half way through

I can’t believe that we’re half way though the 29 faces challenge.  I am so happy I joined this challenge that I can’t believe it.

Not only have I drawn more in 14 days than I have in months, but I have found so many new artists that I admire.  I feel like I will learn so much by looking at their work and reading their words.  

If you’re part of the challenge, are you enjoying it?

29 Faces Day 13 - Happy Mother’s Day

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day with your children and/or your mothers. I wish my mom was still with us.

Another girl on an ATC.

Why are her eyebrows so high up?  I need to work on that. She looks like she has freckles, doesn’t she? They weren’t intentional. 

29 Faces Day 12 Freaked out

Another ATC sized drawing. I think she’s a little freaked out. No telling what she saw.

Maybe it was the season finale of Vampire Dairies. First the DVR didn’t record the show when it should have so she stayed up late waiting for ITunes to make the show available (it wasn’t available until the next day, who knew?). So she looks a little bleary eyed… when she finally does see it…it’s a shocker!!  Did Elena become a vampire right at the very end? Don’t know; guess we’ll have to wait and see next season.

OK…I’m not into Goth but I love the Vampire Dairies.  Not to mention that Ian Somerhalder is so darn s-e-x-y. (And so are Joseph Morgan/Klaus and Daniel Gillies /Elijah)  Yes they are a little young but I can’t help it. The show is my guilty pleasure. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

29 Faces Day 11 Mini Face

I tried to post this earlier but the server wouldn’t take it. Why??? Who knows.

Up until today, I had been working in a journal that is 12’ X 15” and the faces were at least 6” tall. 

Today I thought I switch to ATC size (2.5” x 3.5”). Not as easy as I thought to keep the shadows and mouth size under control. LOL!

29 Faces - Day 10 - Just Smile

Many years back, I read an article about the affects that smiling can have on your mood. The gist was that putting a smile on your face can make you feel happier. I have thought of that article many times over the years and have tried put the theory to use.  It hasn’t always worked for me but many times it does. 

If you’d like to read more on this, here is a NY Times article from 1989 (very similar to the article I read back then). It’s called “A Feel-Good Theory: A Smile Affects Mood” By DANIEL GOLEMAN

Oh and success!  She actually has an expression on her face. I guess pulling your hair up tightly will do that for you.

29 Faces - Day 9- Find the Beauty in Every Day

I saw the movie Hunger Games this weekend and I was inspired to create a green haired girl. If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time.  

29 faces - Day 8 Here’s My Little Teapot

Don’t know why but she reminds me of a teapot. Ohoo, she’s my cross eyed teapot. Take a look at the initial sketch where I’d added ears. They protruded out a little too far and I thought that they looked like teapot handles so I colored over them later on. Maybe I should have made them pointy ears so should could have been a Vulcan.  I think she’d make a lovely Vulcan. :)

Initial sketch:

Handles removed…. but her eyes look a little sad. I think she is missing her ears, poor thing.

I need to make some happy girls.  How do you make happy girls with smiling eyes? All I know is pouty girls.

29 Faces - Day 6

Yesterday’s Face with color.

I just noticed she has a very giraffe-like quality with her long neck and all. Hum…I should go back and add the spots. :)

I wonder why my drawings photograph with the left side less vibrant than right.  They look the same in person. 

29 Faces - Day 6

Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!

29 Faces Day 5

Here is my finished face after making corrections to the eyebrows, lips and the nose. But alas, still no color and no background. Is anyone else wondering how they are going to keep up the pace?  I am and I don’t even finish a full face every day.

Have a great weekend everyone.

29 Faces Day 4 - Inspiration from an unlikely source

Even though I have a office/studio I have been spending awful  lot of time in there due to my day job (I work out of my home). So last night I sat down in the dining room to start this drawing and noticed the picture of my grandson laying close to me. I started looking at the shadows on his face and decided to use them on this girls face. Is that weird?  Have you ever done that?

Yesterday I mentioned that I’m happy if the eyes line up. Well, I just noticed that one eyebrow is higher than the other.  I’m glad I saw it while I still have the chance to fix it. I don’t want her to look like she plucks funny.

My husband thinks she resembles Christina Ricci.  I think he must have been squinting and looking away when he came up with that. ;-P (see my last post) Just kidding, honey pie!

Oh yes, this is my little inspiration (but not the same photo).  He was 22 months yesterday. He’s proudly sporting his new haircut and new shoes. I’m not fishing for comments but isn’t he adorable?

29 Faces Day 3 - The lips that ate Chicago

This is so much fun but also so time consuming and I haven’t even started painting them. I don’t know how some of the other participants are doing such wonderfully completed paintings every day…..ahhh something to aspire to.

I’m sure I’m kidding myself but I think, that if you squint and look away (as my husband would say when he doesn’t agree), she looks a little like Michelle Trachtenberg from Gossip Girl. But no, I didn’t set out to draw any particular person. I’m just happy when the eyes line up like they should. :) Oh by the way, Michele’s lips aren’t that big. 

Oh yes, I wanted to say that constructive criticism is always welcome.

Day 2 - Same sketch more added

Here’s a different look for the sketch I started yesterday. Added hair, refined the facial details and added shading.  Lots more to do.

Day 1 - Initial sketch

Here is my first entry into the 29 day challenge. Pay no attention to the grid lines, wait…grid lines??  Her ears look big, don’t they?

More tomorrow.