100 Faces Challenge

I have been making time to do more art and improve my illustrations. I am trying different things to see which works best with me and how I work. This 100 faces challenge was great in helping me find a path that worked for me.

In the past I have completed 100 day challenges and 30 day challenges and everything in between. I watch a lot of artist videos to learn and to get tips and inspiration.

As I was doing that one weekend morning I decided to draw 100 faces quickly. I had some outcomes I was wanting to achieve and here they are:

• I want to not get stuck in my head in the middle of a piece and never return to it because I think it is a lost cause.
• I want to try new things and embrace the outcomes. Learn from things I like and don’t like.
• I want to not connect my worth with each piece, but rather see each piece as a learning tool in my improvement.
• I want to improve my confidence and my bravery to try new things and be ok with messy outcomes.
• I want to use up old paper, things that I think are already ruined so I am not worried about wasting resources.
• I want to see improvement and or growth quickly.
• I want to have fun in the exploration process.

I have ADHD and as a result I have a hard time judging time, or determining how long something will take me.

It is like people who are hungry and they think they can eat more than they actually can. So they load up their plate and then get full before their plate is empty. That is what happens with me in regards to time.

Often I have the energy but I run out of time. I understand how my body works and know that I need sleep and rest, so it is best if I get to bed early.

I think, “I can do 100 faces in one day.” But I can’t. Because it takes longer than I thought. I was ok with the extension of the project because I really tried to do as many as I could in one day.

I did these 31 faces the first day.

In total I spent 8 days from start to finish working on these faces. I did not draw any faces on three of the days because I was working. It was a good challenge for me and I learned a lot about my process, where I need work, and I uncovered some new things that I liked that I tried.

Below are a few other videos that I created while I was working on this face challenge. Another reason for me to do this in a short time was I wanted to develop a habit of recording, editing, publishing, and sharing work outside of the podcast. I wanted to develop a habit but also deepen my confidence and this challenge did that.

Here’s the beginning of the challenge:

Here are a few individual pieces I created and recorded my making of them.

I also wanted to be brave and share things that I didn’t feel were successful and some that I did. Here are a few I recorded on the first day.

100 Face Challenge: Face number 20.

100 Face Challenge: Face number 22

100 Face Challenge: Face number 24. I really don’t like this one.

100 Face Challenge: Face number 28

This was near the end of the first day. I did really like this one. I like knowing it came out of a piece of paper I had swatched on. So this piece had value twice. I don’t love everything about it, but I love what I learned while making it. I also learned things as I edited the video about my process.

100 Face Challenge: Face number 53

This set was done during an Art Camp with Carla Sonheim.

We were given a starter prompt but were supposed to bring a project to work on (during the 2-hour zoom session). I was working on faces so I drew the women on the zoom with me. They don’t all look like who I was drawing but I really liked some of them and I had to work fast because they were moving.

100 Face Challenge: Face number 40

100 Face Challenge: Faces 53–78

100 Face Challenge: Faces 79–100

100 Face Challenge: Face number 99

I started using this new brush pen I got from Jetpens.com. This link will take you directly to the brush pen. It is a Komamono brush tip pen. I am using my new Ferris Wheel Press ink called Pink Eraser. I really love how it works. This ink is water soluble and layers nicely.

100 Face Challenge: Face number 100

This is one of my favorites. I am recording a recap which you can find on the next blog post later this week.

100 Faces Challenge: Full walk through

Transcript of full walk through

[00:00:00] diane gibbs: In this video, I’m gonna recap my hundred faces and how I really felt about it, uh, about each one and just some of the questions that I got asked. So this was the first one. And just to be honest, I was just using board, like all the backs. I just cut it in half. This was like a. Drawing pad, [00:00:30] uh, and I just had finished all the paper.

[00:00:32] But there’s something about this one that I really like. So I know for one, I like to use paper that’s not white. I, I think there’s something in it with me that I really like. I liked that I put these little collage pieces down. They were just pieces of paper. They actually still don’t really do anything.

[00:00:52] I didn’t incorporate them in, I just drew over them. But I, there’s something I really liked about this one, and. So the tone, [00:01:00] I liked kind of how fast I was with the, with the drawing. I wasn’t trying to be fast with these, but I ended up being fast was really helpful. I was, again, the first day I was trying to do a hundred and, you know, a whole day and I made it 31.

[00:01:19] I pretty much worked from 10 in the morning until. Probably 10 at night. Um, okay, so this one I was watching somebody else and they [00:01:30] kind of were expanding and, um, just exaggerating certain features. I don’t know if I would do this again. I did pick a color palette, so I was working with a color palette. It was pretty broad.

[00:01:44] I was also working on old sheets of paper that I wasn’t, I don’t know particularly, I didn’t particularly care about. Something I like here is that, you know, in the shadow area was one color, but then in [00:02:00] the, in the other area there was still kind, this would be maybe a highlight area. And I used a weird color and I really liked that.

[00:02:08] I’m not sure if I’ll go with the exaggeration or I’m not gonna go through all of ’em, but this was like a skill share where I was gonna paint probably this way. And like you painted half and then you paint and it was in an oval. So I just used that oval to my advantage. This was just somebody outta my head.

[00:02:27] So, um, using [00:02:30] a needle nose. Um, I, I fill these fine liners. I have other ones as well, these really big pens, but you can get little ones just from, and I just fill ’em with ink and then you, they close off pretty good. A lot of times you use them for frisket or for. You know, something for watercolor to as a masking fluid.

[00:02:51] Like this one I probably throw away ’cause it’s not, but this is kinda where I started and, and this is a good one, but I do [00:03:00] have pins with these and then I just seem to find one right now. But this was, this is a great, I’ll have a link in the description, but this is, I love this. Um, And then I just painted over the rest of it.

[00:03:14] This again from my head. This was probably this one. This is like a green color. Um, let’s see it. But it is a green, just a Birmingham ink. So it’s water soluble, but it’s, uh, it was this green and [00:03:30] then I just used, um, a slo all pin pencil. And it’s water reactive. So anyway, that was just from my head. Again, this was just like the back of a sheet of paper that I didn’t like this painting.

[00:03:47] So some of them I just painted right on top again. So this is another kind of pad of paper or something that was cut down. Um, I think I cut [00:04:00] it down. Probably too many colors on this. I really don’t like this, but I love this watercolor paper. I think I tried it a couple times. I found that black was really difficult.

[00:04:11] The brown, I could do pretty okay, but the black was really difficult for me to understand how to do highlights, low lights and stuff. This was actually pattern, a piece of paper that I had painted these. Long, kind of just, it was just a pattern of these pink [00:04:30] blobs. Um, but I really liked this one. I think this girl’s just outta my head.

[00:04:39] I mean, I hate that I kind of cut her off, but, and then I painted around the edges and that’s something I ended up. Doing more because the background was too distracting and so I really liked that. I did go ahead and paint over some of it, which helped focus [00:05:00] in, but you can still kind of see. But I would definitely be doing that one, that more.

[00:05:04] This was just like a piece that I had done for a website. I was trying to draw some words and then just really didn’t like it. So, um, I did like the texture that I was doing later, so I was trying to write leadership, but I just took, again, I can’t ruin this piece of paper anymore, but I did really like this.

[00:05:22] This was kind of in the color palette I was using. So the pink wasn’t in the color palette, [00:05:30] but the orange and blue and brown were, the pink was already on the piece of paper. So, um, this one I hate, but. It was like flowers and I ended up covering it a little bit and it’s a beast, but it’s not very good.

[00:05:48] Um, another little sheet. Really, this was outta my head. I don’t like this. This was like ugly. I don’t know. It was [00:06:00] something about lavender and there were these drawings and they were all water soluble. So when I started drawing over it, it just made a huge mess. I don’t tend to draw, I tend to draw face forward people.

[00:06:10] So I did work on that later. Again, this is from my head. So how good are you? This is a piece that was a flower. It looks like this. Persian has a bloody nose, but again, it kind works. Um, I’m okay with it. Uh, I, it’s not my favorite, but for what it was and [00:06:30] now what it is, I’m okay with it. Like I made it. I wasn’t trying to go with a bloody nose, but as I look at it now, I don’t hate it as much as I did.

[00:06:41] I do still hate this one. I had something else. Then this is where I started coming in with paint. I just couldn’t save this one. This was just terrible. This is a little one again, outta my head using like the fine liner. And then some. I think I used maybe some oil pastels with this one. I [00:07:00] did like this one.

[00:07:00] But again, it’s just reminding me like this doesn’t even really show up. It doesn’t really even make it different. And I like that, that I was able to use this old sheet of paper and make something where the thing that was on it that was. Quote unquote ruining it isn’t even really matter. And I love that.

[00:07:24] This was the other side of, I had done this. Strathmore does these [00:07:30] watercolor, um, or they do exercises like things and in May it was a watercolor and it was this awesome guy and he kinda showed you how to do stuff. And it was similar color palettes and. Um, so I just took, I capped it and the other side I used, um, I think this is the other, the other side.

[00:07:52] So you can kind of see maybe what it was, it was like this, I don’t know if you can see the trees or anything [00:08:00] but there in her face anyway. Didn’t make for so great, but oh well, it’s ugly. I, instead of painting with the painting on the bath, I tried to just paint on top of it. Could I save it? No, but I was able, because I tried here, I was able to make, save some others.

[00:08:22] So it gave me, I hate this one, still hate this one. It was a sunflower. It’s just, [00:08:30] I dunno. Terrible looks pornographic to me now. I love this one. This was some lady that was teaching me something on a class, uh, that I’d paid for, and she wasn’t teaching about faces, but this is really the color palette, not necessarily the background.

[00:08:47] This was an added color, but the blue and the orange, the kind of brown, the gray. Um, and I really just thought this was, I, I’m going to use some of my gache. As some of these [00:09:00] background build because they really helped to focus. And I liked the bright color, but I really liked this one. So this doesn’t really, I don’t think the lady would even be able to recognize that this was her, but I know, and I’m glad, I just tried.

[00:09:16] I never paused her, so as she was teaching me something, I was not pausing her. So this was a completely always moving subject. So for me, I, this is a huge win to me. This looks like a person. It’s not [00:09:30] outta my head. And I really liked this was pro, I’m gonna put this to the side. It’s kind of like the number one I, I liked this one a lot as well, so I’m gonna throw these to the side.

[00:09:44] So, okay, so then this one I was drawing from something. I tried that again with kind of masking the background because this one did have a lot of black on it already, so I needed something to kind of help make the shape, and I [00:10:00] really like this little one. I like that I used orange in her. I mean, she looks kind of pissed, but I like her lips.

[00:10:07] Like there’s just. A lot of things that I really, really like about this one. And it’s, you know, pretty small. So now we’re on 18. This, I also was looking at something, um, as I did this one. Um, to be honest, I can’t remember if this was ink or [00:10:30] marker or what. Maybe it was paint. I don’t know, but I like it. I like the, you know, that there was kind of, I didn’t center it, it because I was looking at a photo.

[00:10:44] I could actually kind of try and this was specific, the teeth. Uh, not sure. This one I also kind of liked this one’s from my head. I had a whole bunch that of pieces of paper that just had these big black marks through them. As I [00:11:00] cut them down, it really made them. Weird, but I don’t mind this one. Um, there’s something soft about it, even though it has this really dark line.

[00:11:12] So there’s, there’s something to that one. Don’t like this one? I think this did kind of look like the girl. Maybe it’s the color palette. It’s like a. Tan, kind of. Maybe I used this in there. This oil pastel at the end, well, just [00:11:30] wasn’t happy. This one was one where I had done some, you can see I was testing out some colors.

[00:11:39] Whoops. Um, and I have the other side of this one, but like I was testing out some. Daniel Smith watercolors, and you can see these circles can kind of, this one’s like a I more iridescent, so I don’t really see it, but, so there are [00:12:00] these, and you’ll see the other side. Again, I’m kind of blocking off some of the things, so I don’t love this one, but I don’t hate this one either.

[00:12:08] You know? How can I show highlight by using the orange? I think her head hair’s probably too big. But anyway, this one looks, um, kind of like somebody who was a, another mom to me as I was growing up. Um, but I didn’t do this to make it look like her, so I don’t [00:12:30] wanna say what, I actually was looking at a photo and what I did was I let this pink ring.

[00:12:37] Kind of stay there, but it, I think this was like a, just a brown, um, but it almost kinda looks like it’s like brazy or something. I mean, it’s not shimmery. But then I did this, these flowers that were on her, her coat, her lapel. I kind of did those just as a, a sketch and I really liked that. So this, I [00:13:00] could see.

[00:13:00] Being more of like a collage piece, but I thought it was really cool how this stuff turned out. So I was really happy with this. Miss Satra, I’m sorry, I don’t really, it looks like you, but it does sort of my mind and slop. Pink Angel. Um, I hate this one. I did this one live. I mean, you could watch me paint it.

[00:13:21] This is just from my head. It’s terrible. I’m not saying it. We’re at number 24. This is at the end of the day. [00:13:30] I am just running out. This looks like a clown. This outta my head, but facing another way. Hate this one. Now, I like this one. This one had most of this blue, um, like here was from, from, I had just was cleaning my brush, I think on the piece of paper.

[00:13:48] But I, I really like how this one ended up. Turning out, so I was happy. This one,

[00:13:58] this one is on [00:14:00] brown paper, so I like this one for that reason. I do like that I’m, again trying, but I was doing it with a different, I was just doing it with, um, some, uh, crayons, probably the neo color, and then going back over it with water. To just trying to, so I do like Bright, I’m coming out with a bright, I was trying some different things and actually his, it doesn’t always look, this part doesn’t look so, so bright, but, oh, well, [00:14:30] I, I wouldn’t, I.

[00:14:31] I mean, it’s not one of my favorites. Well, probably not in the top 10 for sure, but I don’t mind this one, but from my pit, that’s pretty good. Now, this is the, the other side of, anyway, of this one, I think this was like this maybe. You can kind of s see where I was, uh, doing these, um, [00:15:00] whatevers, you know, color and, and this one I have live as well.

[00:15:05] But what happened was I ink started bleeding and I just love this one. I.

[00:15:16] Anyway, I just really like this one. I like the, the red. Um, I like how, what happened with, when I touched this watercolor that I had done these swatches. Um, I [00:15:30] like that. I just used the posca pen for something kind of around her shirt. Um, I think this was just outta my head, I think. Probably needs to be a little bit bigger.

[00:15:43] Um, but I really like what I did with some of the colors. Thought there was some for me, some neat things happen. In this one I have watch, so you can see how some of the bli the bleeding happened and instead of like [00:16:00] freaking out, I going, which was cool. So I hate this one. Do I need to talk about the, this is number 29.

[00:16:08] This is one of those that had all these black lines, and I don’t really like this one. I don’t hate it. But anyway, here’s one where, so this is the last one I did. I was looking at someone, but there was a lot of stuff already on the page. All this, this stuff was already on the page. There was a lot of stuff, so I had to [00:16:30] come in over a lot of it in white because it was just a lot of black and blue.

[00:16:35] Um, so I mean, I didn’t really work on the dress, but I kind of like it as a hint. So there’s something there. Um, this was the next morning. This is a Monday morning having with some friends and I tried to just draw them. I’m sitting in front of my computer. Um, I have the limited palette. I ended up coming in later because it was just too hard [00:17:00] to see the head.

[00:17:01] Without painting some of this background and I think this is pretty distracting. Um, but I was playing, you know, this does not look like my friend, and this does not look like my friend, but I do. I don’t mind these so much. And I like her glasses.

[00:17:24] That was about it. This also doesn’t look like my friend, but I like [00:17:30] the colors. I like how I did something different in the eyes, make it darker, and then just the kind of, I don’t know what we were, the lack of emotion. There is some blue here, so just, this was a self portrait, the Skillshare class that I had where the guy was.

[00:17:54] Half. This was the same skill share class. So this has [00:18:00] a oval, and then half is painted in one color and half is the other. This is the same where you have half, half. And I know this looks like I was using, um, my pink brush pin, I think, and oh well. I know this doesn’t, clearly I have some issues. Um, I don’t like this one either.

[00:18:25] Um, was trying with white, more bold, being [00:18:30] fast. I was looking at something. Don’t like it. I don’t mind this one, but maybe it was ’cause it was too small. I just don’t really like how I executed on the face. Again, like what I did around there. I. If this was at an art, oh no, this was from a magazine. It’s black paper this time, but I just really have a hard time on black paper.

[00:18:52] This was my cousin. This does not look like her. I liked this one. Like the girls. I don’t know. [00:19:00] There was something that I really liked. Some of this was um, maybe this was just completely, I just did all this, but I just really used two things. Don’t like this one. I love this one. I. This was a lady, I did an art camp and she was one of the ladies that was attending and since we were on Zoom, so there’s something I was learning about layering with my brush pens.

[00:19:26] They are water soluble, but instead of like just [00:19:30] let doing one line, I put it angled on the piece of paper. I just really liked this one. Not maybe, I don’t know. Um, this was another lady I was trying to, um, I really, the lady was so interesting looking, but I didn’t really capture her really well. This is, as I was drawing my friends, I had to have something so that it was like keeping me, you know, from [00:20:00] getting all over my desk and.

[00:20:02] As I was painting, um, that’s what ha I just ended up making it into a face. Um, I really like, this is from that art camp. This is another lady, uh, probably too dark here. Um, and then, but I like her lips were really little. I think I captured it pretty good. Again, I’m using brush pens. I’m not going over it.

[00:20:28] So this was a [00:20:30] win for me, not, not probably top 10. This was, um, I did really like this one. This was the only one on black that I did like. So used I think two different colors here. So the darker brown and then a peach color. And then I did her glasses and her hair in white. She had brown hair. I did really like this one.

[00:20:58] Same thing, the lady, [00:21:00] was that the thing? I didn’t like this one. This one was okay. Not one of my favorites. This does not look anything like the lady. The blue was already there and I was just trying. So again, I’m really struggling when it’s dark to light. This was another lady, I obviously didn’t get her mouth.

[00:21:17] This was the same sort of thing I was using as a background, but it’s a face, you know, obviously not terrific. Um, this one, uh, I, I [00:21:30] was trying to do more strokes instead of blending, and I don’t know if I would do this style again. I was looking at something here and I do like this one. Uh, it’s very loose for me.

[00:21:46] Don’t like this one. Don’t like this one. It was on top of a painting I abandoned. Um, I’m really painting over a lot in white here. I really [00:22:00] like this one. This was like a big mess. And then I just, it was some lady that was on Pinterest I thought as I kept doing dark and then trying to add highlights.

[00:22:11] This was the first one. It kind of worked. I don’t love it, but it was the first one that worked, um, outta my head, the fine liner. Again, I really did like this one. Now this one, I think I was using the, at the very end this, and it had a lot of color already on it, [00:22:30] but I really, the sky was on Pinterest, so I.

[00:22:32] He’s in the, in the top, not in the top. I did like this. This is like the back of the cover. Um, and you know, for me, I stuck with two colors. I think there’s two pinks, maybe three pinks, and then just the black was just to. Give a shape for her. Things I, this was maybe top 20 was sticking with [00:23:00] same kind of two colors, but marker or pin, it’s kind of creepy.

[00:23:07] Um, thinking more angles and planes of your face. So more of an exercise. There’s something interesting, but not my thing.

[00:23:25] Litter.

[00:23:29] I was [00:23:30] looking at something with this. I, I was looking at something with all this. Again, I think this is my last attempt on black. This was the other side of the, and I was looking at something in a magazine, two colors, another magazine. This just, uh, I’m really working on this shape of the head, making things proportional and really kind of trying to draw it.

[00:23:57] Better. It’s not the worst, but I don’t really [00:24:00] think the white on top worked from a magazine. Some guy in hat, not from a magazine. This is like some scary guy in my head. And this was somebody in a magazine not happy with. This is a little kid in a magazine. This was a guy in a magazine. I was, okay. I tried the angle again, just one color.

[00:24:25] And do think I captured the emotion, had [00:24:30] different colors. Don’t think it works. And I do like this one. Her teeth are wicked big, maybe bigger than what they were, but that’s okay. So exaggerating something. Um, but I think I captured something. So I, I like that one. I think I needed to use darker this, I tried a whole bunch of weird colors with this, so I liked that I tried something, but I don’t think the hair and the face [00:25:00] connect.

[00:25:00] So that’s something for me to know. If I’m going to use this dark, I probably need to put some of it here and like this, the hot pink color, I need to move it around it. It’s just too much right there. I do like this one. I don’t remember if I was looking at any. Here, and I’m kind of drawing these in the dark.

[00:25:24] This one was just an old painting and I don’t know what it [00:25:30] was originally. I don’t mind it. It’s kind of ghostly, ethereal, so there’s something interesting about it. But those to the side, hate this one. Again, it’s on dark. So this was an old piece of art that had some. Rubber stamps that I’d carved. I was like, can I make, you know, painting the background, can I make this into something?

[00:25:54] And I just, that’s outta my head. [00:26:00] I don’t know if this is outta my head or not. If this is a piece of paper that was already colored and then I just added the posca pin and then maybe some of the, some ink. This one. It’s kind of what it looked like in the beginning. I hate, I don’t like this one. So then I’m, I’m at this point it’s 84 number 84, and I like this one.

[00:26:24] It’s just pencil. Um, not, I don’t love it, but I like [00:26:30] it. Okay. This is like, I am really getting sick of faces. I think I was gonna do something here, but I didn’t, so I just was like, you know what? I’m gonna draw something fast. This one I did try. This is number 87. I am so tired of drawing faces, but I did have a second wind, so I didn’t like this one.

[00:26:54] This was from a, a book that I had. I was just drawing the artist in the book. I [00:27:00] couldn’t done something on the back. Um, I don’t like this one. I don’t like this one. But this is from maybe that same book. I do like this one. There was something really soft about this, so maybe it’s the colors. There were a couple that kind of had this sort of soft look, soft feel, and it uses some of the same colors.

[00:27:21] So there’s something interesting about this. Now, this one I do really like. I don’t know if you would be able to see it. So she [00:27:30] has her head back. This is the edge of her chin. This is her neck. And like if she was a boy, there would be her Adam’s apple, but her chin. Is here, her lips are here, her hair is coming over her face.

[00:27:45] This is her eye. So this is, this is her nose. You’re looking upper nose, right? Here’s your ear. Um, I don’t know what that, maybe a pocket on her shirt or something, but it was already there. And then this is [00:28:00] her neck, you know, like her shirt butt or something. It was really interesting crop. So I do think there’s something I.

[00:28:08] Neat about this and I really colored, there was a lot of black, so I had to color over. I think I’m, I was using this a lot just to kind of get that. So it wasn’t so, so dark. This was from that same book really, this was part of a piece of art that I had done. I actually kind of think I like that better than anything else.

[00:28:29] So [00:28:30] this one, same book. Hate it. Don’t like it. Number 94, since I don’t really draw from top down, I thought I would try. I do not know what I was thinking. Here I have the hiccups now I don’t know why. I wasn’t feeling the space. This was a really messy, um, like I had tried to paint flowers, I guess, uh, and I didn’t like it.[00:29:00] 

[00:29:02] And I don’t know what I, I did try to do something on the other side and then I just cut it down. And I do really like him, like again, really liked what I was getting. Hate this one. I. I don’t mind this one. And then this is the last one. And it’s because it’s been with other things. It is getting messy, but I do really like it.

[00:29:29] I still like it [00:29:30] even though it’s got some of this, um, stuff that wasn’t there originally. But I like this one. And then I did this one after. I don’t like it. This was like the piece of paper that was covering my desk. Just realized I have another piece of washy tape. That’s it. That’s what I liked. I’ll do my top 10 next.