The 100 Heads Challenge: Pushing Myself to Grow as an Artist
I recently stumbled upon an exciting challenge that has me feeling super inspired. And I love participating in an art challenge. It’s called the 100 heads challenge, and I found it on Instagram from artist Ahmed Aldoori. The goal of the challenge is to draw 100 different faces in just 10 days. Ahmed created a Pinterest board filled with 100 unique faces of various ages, genders, and races. The purpose of the challenge is to help artists like myself improve our drawing skills.
I know myself and I’m kind of slow artist, so I dont know if I’ll be able to finish all 100 heads in 10 days. But I’m going to give it my best shot and see how many I can get done. Here are the first four faces I’ve drawn from the Pinterest board. I started from the bottom of the board and plan on working my way up.
I’m taking a different approach to these portraits compared to my usual comic book style. I’m trying to draw these faces more realistically. It’s a challenge, but I can already see the progress in my drawings. I’m looking forward to completing as many of the 100 faces I can, beacuse I know it will help me grow artistically.
If you’re interested in participating in the challenge, you can find Ahmed’s explanation of the challenge on his YouTube channel. It’s a great way to challenge yourself as an artist and improve your skills.
I recently started a pencil drawing sketch of Captain Marvel, inspired by Brie Larson’s portrayal of Carol Danvers in the MCU…
Captain Marvel drawing
From Screen to Page: My Captain Marvel Sketch
I recently started a pencil drawing sketch of Captain Marvel, inspired by Brie Larson’s portrayal of Carol Danvers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I really enjoyed the movie and don’t understand why it gets so much criticism. In my opinion, it was a fun 90’s inspired superhero film.
My current project is a pencil sketch that I plan to eventually color using Prisma color pencils. Although I have done some face color pencil sketches before, I want to complete an entire figure illustration this time. I’ve included a picture of the whole figure here, but I apologize that it’s a little light and out of focus. I’m not the best photographer, but I wanted to show what I’m working on.
Captain Marvel drawing
In the close-up picture of the face, I feel you can see how I’ve improved in drawing the female face. Having developed a stronger style of drawing faces from my practice sketches, which can be found in some earlier blog posts. I did use some photo references from promo images of the movie.
I’m quite happy with the progress of this illustration, but I know it’s only the first step in my process. For this sketch, I used a .05 Pentel mechanical pencil, which helped me achieve fine details in the drawing.
I’m excited about this new illustration project and can’t wait to see how it turns out. I plan to continue practicing and improving my drawing skills, especially with coloring and shading. As always, I welcome any feedback and suggestions from my fellow artist friends and blog readers.
Discovering Confidence in Drawing: Progress with Female Face Sketches
As an aspiring artist, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my skills and techniques. One of my recent goals has been to draw faces and practice sketches, which has allowed me to experiment with different drawing techniques and styles.
To help me keep my proportions in line, I used grid paper for all of these sketches. I also tried a new technique for drawing button noses I learned from YouTube, and I feel that they turned out better than how I usually draw them. For the lips, I added a hint of a smile to each of the heads. You can also see some practice sketches of lips in the background.
All of the heads are female, and I tried out different hairstyles for each of them. In the first drawing, I made the features slightly larger than usual, including the eyes, lips, and ears. The hair is also styled in a unique way, with one side shaved and the other side long. I used a .07 mechanical pencil for this drawing.
In the second head sketch, I decided to color the eyes blue to add a pop of color to the otherwise monochromatic sketch. I used the same pencil for this drawing as well.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with these sketches and I am happy with how they turned out. I feel like I am improving my skills as an artist with each new drawing. I didn’t use any photo references for these sketches, which shows that I am becoming more confident in my ability to draw from my imagination.
Finally, I decided to challenge myself by drawing an alien or necro villainess for my last sketch. it allowed me to experiment with different shapes and features for the face.
All these face practice sketches have been a great way for me to improve my drawing skills and experiment with new techniques. What new techniques have you tried recently in your own artwork? Share your experiences and successes in the comments below!
A quick BB-8 from the new Star Wars The Force Awakens film. This was done with a pen brush. I think this little droid is going to totally steal the show.
It’s October again, and that means to a lot of artists around the world it’s Inktober!
Wait what’s Inktober you might ask? It’s an annual drawing challenge set forth by artist Jake Parker. The challenge is to do one ink drawing a day for the entire month of October.
Parker created InkTober in 2009. He has invited everyone to join him in the monthly exercise. But like any challenge, there are a few rules.
Rule One: Make a drawing in ink
Rule Two: Post it on your blog or your Social Media
Rule Three: Hashtag it with #inktober
Rule Four: Repeat
Here is a photo of my tools for 2015. A cool Moleskine sketchpad, Pentel Color Brush, Micron pens, and a sharpie pen. Last year I started the challenge, but only got as far as 3 drawings. This year I plan on finishing all 31 days. I’ll be posting my inks here and on my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. It’s going to be a fun month!
For more info about Jake Parker and Inktober check out his website here: http://mrjakeparker.com
Character Back Story: Noemin is unlike any of Lilith’s other daughters, she doesn’t despise the children of Eve. From an early age, Noemin found humans and their gadgets very interesting. She immediately understood how these gadgets worked and how to improve on them. She had a talent for creating her own gadgets too. Before long Noemin was creating a variety of mechanical devices for herself and her sisters. Her mother Lilith was not pleased with these inventions. Lilith saw technology as a perversion of the earth’s natural resources, this was one of the many reasons she hated Eve’s children. Lilith commanded that all of Noemin’s gadgets be destroyed and forbid her from making any more. Hurt and sad Noemin complied with her mother. It was that day she decided that she would leave her mother and sister to forge her own life and place in the world.
Decades later Lilith sends Noemin and her younger sister Sylvia out on a mission to retrieve a mystical object, it will help her find the decedents of Eve’s first child Adam. They are intercepted by the Archangel Sansenoy who was sent to stop them. Sylvia attacks the Archangel but is defeated very quickly. Too quickly for Noemin to believe, Sylvia is her mother’s finest warrior. She realizes that they know each other and can see it in their eyes. Their body movements betray the fact that they share a romantic connection. Instead of letting the fake battle play out, Noemin casualty asks how long Sylvia and Sansenoy have been involved.
Sylvia begs her not to tell their mother Lilith. She explains that they have been in love with each other for years. That he has helped her not to hate the children of Eve, but to see their potential. Noemin agrees that their mother can not know any of this. She tells Sylvia that she also doesn’t agree with their mad mother’s agenda. And that she is glad to see her sister in love. Noemin sees this as an opportunity to stop one of her mother’s deadly plans and to escape from her clutches in the process. They devise a story that they were intercepted by a legion of angels, that mystic object was taken and that Noemin gave her life to save Sylvia.
Noemin now free explores the world of humans and creates as many of her gadgets as she likes. Unknown to her though in the future she will be pulled into a war between her mother’s hatred and the lives of the Children of Eve. Her inventions will help tip the balance of who wins and who loses.
Notes: Noemin, Rogue Daughter of Lilith is a character set in my comic project First Legacy. It’s a comic/story where Lilith, Adam’s first wife is planning on declaring war on the Children of Eve (mankind). Noemin is the first daughter of Lilith to disagree with her agenda. She will be an inspiration and comrade to Aurora Light one of the main characters in First Legacy.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Character Back Story: Lilith is Adam’s first wife before Eve. She refuses to be Adam’s subordinate and states that she is his equal. When Lilith leaves the Garden of Eden and Adam the angels Sansenoy, Senoy and Semangelof are sent to bring her back. She refuses to go back to Adam so a bargain is made for her freedom. The price is the deaths of one hundred of her children every day. Lilith complies but gives birth to more than 100 a day. Through the many centuries, Lilith has slowly birthed an army of daughters and sons to take back the world she believes rightfully belongs to her. Their numbers rival the angels themselves. She has raised her children to hate and pity the “Children of Eve”. There is a war for Earth coming and Lilith plans to win it.
Notes: Lilith is a character from my comic project “First Legacy”, this is a working title. She is taken from folklore and was mentioned in the character back story of a character named Aurora Light a few years ago. I used is a challenge to revisit the comic idea.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
Character Back Story: Sansenoy along with his brothers Senoy and Semangelof are Archangels and guardians of humanity. When Lilith leaves the Garden of Eden and Adam they are sent to bring her back. A bargain is made for her freedom, the price is the deaths of one hundred of her children every day. Lilith complies but gives birth to more than 100 a day. Sansenoy keeps a watchful eye on Lilith and her surviving children. On many occasions, he even fights them in battle. Sansenoy eventually meets and falls in love with Lilith’s greatest warrior daughter, Sylvia Light. Sansenoy and Sylvia began a secret romantic relationship. He shows Sylvia the great potential and wonders that the “Children of Eve” can achieve.
Notes: Sansenoy is a character from my comic project “First Legacy”, this is a working title. He is taken from folklore and was mentioned in the character back story of a character named Aurora Light a few years ago.
This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.
