Face 19 & 20 for the September 2014 29 Faces Challenge

"Jim Carrey," by Dayna Winters.

After running errands yesterday, I was just too tired to post my artwork for the challenge, so now I'm making up for lost time.  I'm sharing my rendition of the comedian/actor Jim Carrey, and the comedian/actor Gabriel Iglesias.  Let me just say I am a huge fan of both.  Carrey has some fantastically funny movies like "The Mask," "Me, Myself, and Irene," "Yes Man," and "Dumb and Dumber," are among my favorites.  I think in his role in "Magic Mike," Iglesias was good too, and I love his stand up routines.

I completed both pieces with graphite pencil.  I had a rather difficult time with the sketch of Carrey - no matter what I did, it just didn't come out right.  I'm not sure if it was my less-than perfect art skills or the photo I used or a combination of the two that cause the problem.  Anyway, I'm not totally happy with the outcome.  I hope to give it another shot in the near future.  I do, however, love the quotation on the Carrey sketch:

"As far as I can tell, it's just about letting the universe know what you want and then working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass."

The above quote is interesting in light of my difficulties with the Carrey sketch - when I got frustrated, no matter what I did, I couldn't get my vision to come to pass.  I should have let go and returned to it when I wasn't trying to force the issue. There is a definite difference between working toward something and attempting to force things to happen in an effort to meet one's own limited or confined expectations.  Not to mention I really should have known better.  After all, frustration is a real energy block and only breaks the natural flow of positive energies.

"Gabriel Iglesias," by Dayna Winters

On the other hand, I'm really pleased with the way the image of Gabriel Iglesias turned out.  I think I still need to work on sketching the mouth a bit better.  I was pretty surprised by how quickly I managed to draw the Hawaiian shirt.  In fact, I was happy with how quickly I completed the entire sketch.  So for today's lesson: I've learned that once I start struggling with a piece I only make the issues worse - I definitely have to continue to walk away from something for a while and to return to it when I am less frustrated (I just hate loose ends!).

So far, during this challenge I've also learned I have an issue with right eye emphasis in my sketches - even when I try not to do so.  I guess it's going to take more practice to conquer the issue.   I also find myself often truncating the subjects features, while other times, when I'm trying to defy my natural tendency to truncate, I overextend the subject's features instead.  I still need a lot more practice drawing mouths, noses, and ears.  I know, even though not some much during the 29 Faces Challenge, I have some difficulty with hands, fingers, feet, and toes as well.  However, I can say I'm getting more confident with every image I sketch.  I'm hoping that as I keep track of my artwork I'll be able to track the changes in my skills over the course of time.

Small plastic craft skull for a future craft project.

On a different note, a few days back I mentioned picking up some wonderful materials for making crafts  - among the list where some pre-cut wood pieces, seed beads, and a couple of Halloween skulls.  I'm working on a couple of fun projects and ended up investing in some black felt, spray tacky glue, and some more pre-cut wood pieces.  I also picked up a small, plastic skull since the skulls I originally bought were covered in glitter - an issue I thought I could work around for the purposes of my project, but... it didn't work out so hot :).  So..., I save those for another project.  I'll give you more information as the small projects progress!