29 Faces - day 29!

It's the end of the month and the 29 faces are done! Thanks to Ayala Art for hosting this great challenge. The discipline of doing a new face each day is great for developing your skills surprisingly quickly. It has also allowed me to work out which media I prefer and which ones really aren't for me. I can have a clear out of my cupboards. 

There is usually a 29 Faces challenge in September, as well. Why don't you consider joining in?

29 faces - day 28

After a few relative duds, I've produced a face I'm happy with. This is based on a photograph because a  lot of the time I find it easier to have a reference to work from. I haven't done many profiles in this set of faces. The shading is different for a profile and I'm still learning about what works to get a reasonable 3D look.

Well, just one more face to go and the challenge will be done for this month.

29 Faces - day 27

Well, this one went south as soon as the too-long nose appeared! She became more and more catlike, so I gave her cat ears. Sometimes you just have to let the drawing go its own way. 

29 Faces - day 26

Just having problems with proportions at the moment, but each time there is at least a bit of the piece that I am satisfied with. My noses are improving at least :)

29 Faces - day 25

Well, this one seems to be puffing out his cheeks! It wasn't my intention :) Charcoal is not that forgiving, so I was committed to the large face and then I messed up the proportions with the features, but hey, it's just practice. I'm not that keen on charcoal as I find it a little scratchy, but it's fun to try things that are out of your comfort zone. There's always something to learn. 

29 Faces - day 24

Oil pastels today - I pulled them out of the drawer where they've been a little neglected. As I was hurting my finger trying to smudge them, I remembered another almost-forgotten supply: a blending stump. That was much better. 

The thing I had to remember was that you can't just go over the top of the pastels like you can with acrylics as they blend rather than covering. 

Almost there with the 29 Faces challenge now. See who else has kept up by clicking the button in the sidebar.

29 faces - day 23

This girl has such big hair! But I have determined to post all the 29 faces with no do-overs, so here she is in all her big-haired glory. And I don't like her eyebrows, but hey, it's just a drawing :)

29 Faces - day 22

This face started out with copying a photo from a magazine, but she took on a life of her own. I think the shading is a bit more subtle on this one, but it seems to work. 

Almost there now! Check out what other artists have been doing with faces this month by clicking on the 29 Faces button in the sidebar. 

29 Faces - day 21

This is a very whimsical face - the eyes are definitely too big for it to be realistic :) However, I am pleased with the mouth on this one. I'm starting to get that darker top lip and highlight on the bottom one. It's easy to know what you should do to get your face to look 3 dimensional, but actually executing it isn't always that easy. The head knowledge doesn't always move through to the fingers. . Anyway, I feel like I'm coasting down the hill now, with only 8 faces to go.

29 Faces - day 20

I was looking for a reference photo for today's face and decided to look at some classic artworks. An Italian icon caught my eye. The style was interesting, so I thought I'd give it a go.