100 Faces in 100 Days

The class Dina Wakley taught at Bizzy B on the Saturday morning 2 weeks ago (where has the time gone?!) was called "Facing the Facts".  She taught us to draw faces.

Before she started to teach, she asked us each to draw a face.  Here's what I drew:

How about those Botoxed lips, eh? Scary! Not exactly the ideal look, unless you're Jack Nicholson playing the Joker in a Batman movie, am I right?

Then she taught us what we needed to know and immediately, my drawings (and everyone else's) improved dramatically.  This was my next sketch.

You may recall that I've already some previous instruction in how to draw a face.  I even took a class with Jane Davenport last year, she who draws amazing faces and teaches others how to do so very well (read all about it here).  Sadly, I promptly forgot everything I learned from Jane almost immediately afterwards and/or stopped practising.  So when Dina told us in her class that the only way to get better drawing faces was to commit to drawing 100 faces in 100 days, I believed her.  I decided then and there to do exactly that and so far, I'm right on schedule!

Here is another face I created later in that class, using acrylic paint:

Her name is Miranda and she tells me to
"just start".

Here are some of the ones I have drawn since then:

Angela: "Trust yourself".

Josephine: "Take time to dream."

Elizabeth: "Don't be afraid of hard work."
(drawn on the 60th anniversary of Queen
Elizabeth's coronation.)

Deborah Jane: "Keep calm and carry on."
(based on a painting by D.J. Pettitt
that Dina had given us as an example)

Charlene: "No more excuses!"

As you may have noticed, each of my drawings has a name and something to tell me.

This is one I drew last night, while I was watching the first game of the Stanley Cup (note the use of the Chicago Blackhawks colours of red, yellow and black for the background).  I traced the sketch above (the one directly under the photo of Jack) using carbon paper and then embellished it with the Stabilo pencil.

Suzanne - "Go Hawks!"

It's day 13 and I'm off to draw today's face.  It doesn't have to take long, it can just be a quick sketch, using whatever drawing instrument you have on hand.  Dina taught us with the Stabilo All pencil, which can be blended with water for a nice, smudgy effect.  Or, when I have more time, I can fill in my sketch with paint.  Either way, it's lots of fun and I can definitely see improvement already!