Kim Dellow over on her blog has a fun thing going called Art It Friday – Show Your Face.  I discovered it while browsing some linked blog pages on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s regular Friday post Art Journal Everyday post which she also posts regularly every Friday.

I want to get better at sketching portraits so this is a good challenge for me to take to improve that skill.  Here is this week’s “face” for my post:

scan.091I don’t know why I have to always start with the hardest things and work my way backwards to the beginning of things…  This is the first time I’ve attempted an upturned face and why it turned out to be a man–or at least that is what I was going for LOL–well, that is another mystery.  Also, please ignore the light line toward the left of the page.  That is the middle of my Moleskine that used for the drawing.   The background was created as I cleaned my brushes and stencils on it as I created other journal pages over time.  I love how they turn out so random and they make great back grounds for some of the portraits that I do.  Such random and weird colors but it worked great for this face.  Very satisfying!

I got my inspiration from Pam Carriker’s recent book Mixed Media Portraits with Pam Carriker.  It is an EXCELLENT book on portrait drawing and painting.  If you are looking for a good book on this subject, this would definitely be one that you would want to have in your collection.

Screenshot 2015-07-24 06.48.53

I’m not happy with his Adam’s apple placement, but I’m not going to rag on myself too badly for my first manly portrait.  I also am not ecstatic about his nose particularly or his lips.  I think the lips are my biggest dislike.  But there will be more opportunities to do more so onward and upward…  Bring on the weekend!  I’m ready!  Whoohoo!!