Facing Forward …with a Doodled Face

One of my favorite candid pictures of my son was taken when he was 12 yrs old (he’s now 22).  It wasn’t so much his smile (probably because he isn’t smiling).  It was more his expression and the colors in the towel he had over his shoulders that placed this picture as one of my all-time-favorites!



The only original thing I did here was to use color in this picture.  This type of drawing can be best illustrated by Rebecca Anthony.  Now this lady is good.  You can see what I mean if you go over to her blog here and here.

Had a ton of fun using those watercolor pencils for the vibrant colors of the towel.  Luckily I had already purchased the right colors.  Being rather impatient……I outlined the face in with my XS Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen because it was time to get on with it a.l.r.e.a.d.y….that’s when I saw the error of my ways.



Check out the RED * area.  This is where I tend to make mistakes a lot.  (As seen when I did my self-portrait sketch).  I can’t seem to pull off the entire left eye unless I give myself more room…..hence the broader cheekbones!!  Ugh!!

But aren’t those colors in the towel a good match with the sketch?  I just love them!



If you decide to doodle on top of your watercolored areas….don’t just wait until the area is dry to the touch (5-10 minutes).  It’s best to wait overnight, because if you don’t you’ll get this bleed effect which you can see in the swirlie’s above.  It would be a drag to do all that work, then ruin it at the end!



Just a close-up of the face.  Had to rely on my doodle directory prints for a lot of these areas.   Repetitive patterns, in different intensities work best.   A pattern that uses more ink is used in the places where there is a lot of shadows, or shading. 



The other thing I found that I liked as I drew this was…….When you’re using a pattern, if you can take that same pattern and change the tempo of it as you doodle thru the area, that helps add dimension to the subject as well.   (See the upside U portion in the middle of the neck to see what I mean)



Ta-Da!!!  I may go back in and doodle up that white background……we’ll see.

I splurged on this…..

 

 

 Last week when Artist- Rebecca Anthony put her Daisydoll Goddess Postcards up for sale I had to get them.  These are the most beautiful, most colorful, most interesting faces I’ve ever seen.  It was hard for me to pick my favorite, but the one pictured above would be on my Most Favorite List, Most Viewed List, Most Colorful List, Most Interesting List….yep, all my lists, she’d be there.  I was astounded to realize that Rebecca does all this by hand, with her paints.  When I first came across her faces, I thought she had used some photo-editing.  But no, that’s not the case.  She just has a super steady hand.  I adore her use of colors.  Probably because she seems to be a big fan of REDS & GREENS….just like me! 

She has made some really awesome things from her Goddess series.  Hairbrushes, pendants, postcards.  You’ve got to see for yourself, check out her etsy shop at www.daisydolls.etsy.com

And for your viewing pleasure, more pictures of Rebecca’s Daisydoll Goddess postcards.

 

I thought they’d look real nice hanging from my Ikea Deka Curtain Wires that I have hanging in my studio.

 

As an added bonus, you’ve got to see the back of these postcards.  This is the blueprint, if you will, of her faces.  Such a cool feature for Rebecca to include.  Because after she’s painted all those layers, it’s hard to see how these Goddesses got started.

Now, do you see what I mean?   Do you see what all of the fuss was about??