The Eyes Have It!

Psssssttttttt . . . . before I get started you guys . . .

DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS?????

I am going to be a teacher at BRAVE GIRL UNIVERSITY beginning September 1st! Dozens of teachers and classes, all in one place, together with the Fabulous Melody Ross and all the Brave Girl Staff!  Whoot! Come join the party and get all the details RIGHT HERE!

Whew!  That was exciting!

August Theme
Faces, the Human Form & Characters
Week 31 – August 1
Art Challenge: Expressive Faces
Journal Prompt:  What I see clearly now

I can hear the gasps from the group as you clicked on the blog and discovered this month was about faces and the human form!  OMGEEEEEEEE!  “How am I ever going to do that?” I hear you asking yourselves that questions.

My answer is . . . you ARE able to do it if you just PRACTICE!  And believe me, you are going to have a ton of creepy, weird, odd faces as you start to figure it out.  I have been drawing faces for years and years and I still get bizarre shapes and ugly chicks!  Embrace it people!  Keep practicing and find your own “style.” There is nothing wrong with creepy, weird, and odd.  In fact – I kind of like it.  Don’t strive to create a realistic portrait right off the bat – it won’t happen.  It just won’t.

But if you want to get there, like I said, you have to PRACTICE!  For me, the eyes are the most important feature in the face.  It’s the “focal” point. Other than proportion, If you can nail the eyes, you’ve got it!  I have filled so many sketchbooks full of nothing but “body parts” as I was learning to draw. . . noses, ears, lips, eyes.  Over and over and over again until it became muscle memory.

There are a lot of FREE YouTube tutorials on face drawing and many good books.  These are my 3 favorites – I’ve added links below to find them easier.  These are my go to reference books for sketching just about anything, especially faces.

So for today’s challenge, I practice what I think is the most important feature on the face . . . the eyes!  I have so many sketchbooks full of nothing but “body parts.” Over the years, I drew images over and over again until muscle memory set in and they became natural and easy to me.  Practice, practice, practice.  Like learning to write, you had to trace those letters over and over again . . . the same goes with art.  Keep trying!

And lucky for you, our featured artist this week is the fabulous Jane Davenport, who creates faces like no one else.  Her classes on portraits and the human form are fantastic, so be sure to stop by her blog and check her out.

I’ll be looking forward to all those faces this week – Don’t be afraid – YOU CAN DO THIS!

This week our featured artist is: Jane Davenport!

Jane’s take on this challenge can be found HERE.

InLinkz.com

For more information on this week’s challenge you can find us here:

http://arttothe5th.squarespace.com/
Flickr
Instagram: #documentedlife #documentedlifeproject

Looking for previous challenges? click HERE

Visit our blogs: Sandi Keene, Roben-Marie Smith, Rae Missigman

Join us on The Art to the 5th™ Academy™ – a thriving “community” and classroom for “The Original” Documented Life Project™!  Find us on Instagram: #documentedlife