My First 30 Faces / 30 Days!
Throughout January I have been participating in the 30 faces / 30 days challenge with Sktchy. I joined because I wanted to boost my work output during a difficult month of short days, and prolonged, uninspiring weather. I also wanted to continue developing my skills for rendering people into my art, and I had made this my winter project.
The format is simple: each day, over thirty days, a photo is posted on Sktchy, accompanied with a video of one of eight artists demonstrating their own techniques for interpreting the photo. Naturally, each artist has their own style and process which adds to the interest. I opted for the pen and pencil version of this course (there are also pencil and Procreate versions) and although it's up to you which medium and style of expression you choose to create, I chose to follow the processes of each artist quite closely because I wanted to experiment and get out of my comfort zone.
The days alternate between pen and pencil, with some examples incoporating a little watercolour as well. You don't have to stick to the schedule as you get 'lifetime' access to the course once you've signed-up for it, but I wanted to keep-up because increasing my productivity was part of the motive for joining; essentially, I wanted to re-eastablish the daily habit. Some of the examples I produced I was far from happy with, and I plan to re-do them sometime in the near future.
I actually found the committment quite hard, especially on the pen days, which are my major weakness. Hatching is something I really struggle with as it requires more patience than I can find. I didn't improve this technique much over the month because I think I found drawing the whole head a bit overwhelming. But from that, I realised I need to break things down even more and focus on features for a bit. There is a fabulous looking course on Sktchy with France Van Stone (Drawing Faces) which looks comprehensive and very good value; I got that lined up for later in the year!
As for the pencil days, well, I was comfortable with this medium as I love it so much, but I didn't expect to pick-up so many useful tips. On one particular lesson I learned an approach that I would never have picked-up myself, but it totally transformed how I will approach some portraits in the future.
The second week into the challenge I had no problems with the daily committment. The habit had returned and I found myself eagerly awaiting for the next video (most seemed to be posted around 17:30 GMT). The photo references were varied and inspiring. Sometimes a pic would come up that I would never have tackled without being prompted and yet, these proved to be the most rewarding to do. I seemed to learn more about myself with the references where I initially felt the greatest resistance. The last challenge of the month was of a male wearing a flower garland. My heart sank when I saw it as I quickly forgot the one piece of advice that had permeated the 30 faces challenge: focus on the big shapes! Don't sweat the small stuff. Well, once I got cracking, it soon became great fun and I think it's now my favourite pic from the challenge.
Last year I put off joining the Sktchy universe. I was poor and precious with my money, trying to survive through the disruption of the Covid pandemic. This year, nothing has changed! But I managed to find the $39.99 and went for it. I am so glad I did. This has been the best thing I've done for my art in a long time. I'm now signed-up for Cross-hatching Landscapes with David Morales, and 30 days / 30 faces - pencil. I might see you there!
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