Today’s prompt is librarian. Librarians are usually avid readers and I thought of drawing someone carrying books but then I thought someone reading a book would be better.
I did use a Sktchy reference photo but I took a lot of artistic license; basically, I used the book and winged the rest.
Today’s prompt is sleepy eyes. I felt like going rogue today and not use a reference for my character. I just plopped gouache on the paper and started making a head shape and I sketched features with pencil. Slowly a winter elf emerged. I added the snowflakes at the end. I was thinking of the peace and stillness I felt when there was a gentle snowfall and just standing there, taking it in. You could hear the flakes hitting leaves and autumn debris. A lot of times, major snowstorms would start quietly, with just gentle flakes. Snow didn’t come in like a thunderstorm. Many times snowflakes came in slowly, subtly and then they brought friends; more snow and wind.
So this elf is standing outside, taking in the peace of the quietly falling snow.
Today’s prompt is “tall” so it seemed appropriate to use the giraffe reference photos that I took last week at the Brevard Zoo.
The cool thing about this Zoo is that you can feed the giraffes.
Today’s prompt is “culture different from my own” and another artist on Sktchy, Naomi Draw, posted a photo of herself when she was younger, in traditional costume. I chose her photo as a reference but took a little artistic license with the features.
Today’s prompt is “bashful” and I thought Chloe needed a turn since Mack’s portrait was done last week.
Chloe doesn’t like to be photographed. As soon as she sees a cell phone she closes her eyes or looks away, lol.
Rick N is a bearded fellow and is the perfect model for today’s prompt, “beard.” Rick has been on Sktchy for many years and has been an amazing resource for when I need to see how to draw an emotion or a pose. His comments are always positive and upbeat and he is a valuable part of the Sktchy community. Rick has posted almost 3000 reference photos for artists to use for inspiration. Amazingly, he is extremely versatile, with a whole treasure trove of poses, costumes and expressions.
This is a classic Rick face, sketched with gouache.
I like that this daily challenge is forcing me to find shortcuts and it’s fun for me to play with the prompts to stretch or exaggerate a feature. Or to head in a completely different direction like using a plant for heart.
Today’s prompt is “rock star.“ This sketch, painted with gouache, has not been digitally touched up.
There is no Friendly Faces prompt for Sundays but I have been working on a side project in between everything else.
I made this sketchbook from felt and I stitched it together yesterday. I have been learning some new and really cool bookbinding techniques and I love this stitch much better than the long stitch.
I am starting to go more stylized and less “realistic portrait” with these to speed this challenge up for me…
Today’s prompt is pointy chin
