100 Self Portraits in 100 Days

**Lamp** · May 29th, 2011, 12:28 AM

Hey guys!

Last month I decided I wanted to learn to draw a human head, and also learn to draw with charcoal, so here's the deal. I'm currently knee deep in a project, which is, as the title of the thread explains, 100 self portraits in 100 days. I'm on day 35ish and I while I'm proud of the progress I've made so far (I find I am somewhat less clueless than when I began) I finally got up the nerve to put together a thread that I will be updating daily from here on out. I am drawing with charcoal pencil on smooth newsprint, and all are done from the mirror.

You can check out the embarassing beginnings at this tumblr blog: brettshead.tumblr.com

Some days I am VERY strapped for time (or else I am just in a funk) so you might notice that even the more recent drawings have big gaps in quality.

For the purposes of kicking off this thread I will go ahead and post the last eight days of portraits, starting with ten days ago and moving to the most recent. Any feedback you can offer is VERY MUCH appeciated.

**Lamp** · May 29th, 2011, 06:17 PM

Day 34:

**Tides** · May 29th, 2011, 09:03 PM

Interesting idea. Do you draw/paint besides the self portraits? Have you noticed any difference in your drawing ability yet?

I'll be following.

**Lamp** · May 30th, 2011, 02:17 AM

@Tides: Thanks for the comments. I have done a bit of digital painting in the past, but virtually no traditional painting. It is something I'd like to work up to. As far as noticing a difference in my drawing ability, I have certainly noticed a difference in my ability to draw heads! On top of the obvious grappling with drawing problem much of my troubles right now are coming from working large, drawing on a vertical surface (paper set up on an easel) and with charcoal --none of which I have much experience with.

Day 34:

**Tides** · May 30th, 2011, 01:17 PM

That last one looks like you've figured something out.

**Lamp** · May 30th, 2011, 10:50 PM

Here's my last stab at this post/lighting for a bit, on to new horizons tomorrow!

Day 35:

**Lamp** · June 1st, 2011, 12:17 AM

Day 36:

**Lamp** · June 2nd, 2011, 12:19 AM

Day 37:

**akkibox** · June 2nd, 2011, 12:46 AM

Wow, I love this idea! Can't wait to see what your 100th looks like. There's a lot of personality in these, btw.

**Lamp** · June 4th, 2011, 09:00 PM

Akkibox -- thanks for the encouragement! I can't wait to see where I'll be by the end of this as well!

I felt like my head construction was going to hell with some of the lighting and poses I was trying so I went back to the basics for a couple of days:

Day 38:

Day 39: