For my 30 drawings, I chose to draw myself to (1) prepare for the self-portrait we would be doing (2) I wanted to gain more experience with drawing faces and (3) I would not have to seek out models.
My main goal for this project was to become more creative and to learn how to play around more in terms of techniques and materials. I noticed that I tend to gravitate toward realistic styles and I wanted to move away from that. I just feel like I play it safe most of the time, especially when I think back to ART-160.
I liked the self-portrait I finished in that class. However, when I looked at my peers who took greater risks using different techniques for each square, I liked their pieces more and wished I had done the same. For the series, I had room to experiment and could do so without worrying about having to start over.
The process was long and sometimes frustrating for me because while I wanted to be freer in terms of style and material, but I still had some hesitation with some of the pieces that I did. I have to say that the pieces that I did later in the process are some of my favorite ones, especially under a time crunch. I became a lot less worried about the end product as much and more concerned with variety and if I was challenging myself enough. I started experimenting with different size paper and different contours of paper.
India Ink and pen on Strathmore 
Acrylic with white charcoal 
White charcoal pen on brown paper. 
Watercolor pen with black brush pen on brown paper. 
Watercolor pen on brown paper. 
Watercolor pen with blue brush pen on brown paper. 
Watercolor pen with ebony pencil on brown paper. 
4B pencil on vellum paper. 
White pen and white charcoal on purple paper. 
India Ink and white charcoal on brown paper. 
India Ink, 4B charcoal, and white charcoal on purple paper. 
Lumograph pencil, ebony pencil, and white charcoal pencil on cardboard 
Vine charcoal, 4B charcoal pencil, and white charcoal pencil on purple paper. 
Conte crayon on purple paper with a pen drawing on vellum paper layered on top. 
White charcoal and pen on brown paper. 
India ink and white pen on purple paper. 
India ink and pen on Strathmore 
Acrylic paint, Oil paint, and India ink on purple paper. 
Transparency, pen, and oil paint on purple paper. 
White pen, black pen, India ink, and wrapping paper. 
HB pencil and white charcoal pencil on brown paper. 
India ink and white charcoal pencil on purple paper. 
2B pencil, white pen, wrapping paper, on cardboard. 
Pen on brown paper. 
Watercolor and pen on vellum paper. 
White charcoal on brown paper. 
Watercolor and pen on vellum paper. 
White pen and white charcoal on purple paper. 
Watercolor with HB pencil on Strathmore 
Pen, white charcoal, and vine charcoal on vellum paper. 
India Ink on Strathmore
I would say that creating texture with different mediums and learning how that worked was a success of mine during this process such as the texture of my fluffy coat and different hairstyles. Also, mixing different mediums. Pen with India ink, oil paint with watercolor, ink with watercolor, and collage. I broke out of my comfort zone with a lot of these and accomplished my goal of getting more creative. Some pieces were broken into several drawings that were distinct but came together to create a whole.
Some were more experimental such as the ones where I used wrapping paper. It connects with me as a person (my spirit animal is decidedly a llama) and adds greater visual interest when looking at the series. One is even more interactive with the wrapping paper slightly obscuring the face, but you can also lift it up to view what is underneath.
However, not all were successes. The white pen drawing with white charcoal on purple paper was my least favorite overall. I tried to be more gestural but I did not like how it turned out. The drawing lacked key structure and proportion. Additionally, the first two drawings that I did with white charcoal were good with learning how to engage with the material, but the outcomes were not intentional. Proportions and trying to balance them without a grid was more difficult than I thought it would be. I was trying to get better at drawing portraits and faces, especially since I know proportions are a bit harder for me. So some drawings are more accurate than others. If I were to go back and do some over it would be the earlier pieces.
White charcoal pen on brown paper. Acrylic with white charcoal India Ink and pen on Strathmore White pen and white charcoal on purple paper. White charcoal and pen on brown paper. White charcoal on brown paper. Pen on brown paper. White pen and white charcoal on purple paper.
Throughout the process, I have learned several things. Drawing without a grid also connected with the goal of being more creative and more flexible during the process. Along the way, I found a different method of planning out the proportions such as blocking it out roughly with simple shapes like rectangles and squares and then going back in to fill out the details. I also got a better sense of working with ink and learning patience with the medium. I took Professor Emerson’s advice and started just going where the ink took me, and those were the pieces that I am proud of. You can really see a progression from the very first ink drawing to the last one I did for this series.
Overall, I am happy with the pieces that I have produced and would like to continue to experiment with different styles of drawing.
