Art It Friday – Show Your Face

Yay Facers! Welcome to this week’s portrait community share Art It Friday – Show Your Face. I’m super excited to see your portrait work this week.

For anyone new here this is a regular place to come and inspire, be inspired, but above all to share our portrait progress week by week. Every Friday at 10 am (BST) a new Show Your Face blog post goes live with the linky to add your blog post or online gallery picture to with any portrait work you have been doing. 


Your face can be drawn, doodled, painted, stitched, be made using any materials and can be any style, all I ask is that it is your artwork. If you use templates, stencils or stamps to build the face anatomy then they should be ones you have made yourself and not someone else’s. 


Finished pieces or works in progress are all welcome so come join in and spread the word on your blog/ social media outlets.



Right, shall I kick off this week’s Show Your Face share? (By the way there are affiliated links in this blog post, read more about them in my Disclaimers and Disclosures).

Shading practice for face drawing

Ok this really is a practice piece that I’m sharing today and if it puts you in mind of the work of Pam Carriker there might be a reason for that!

Picture of Pam Carriker's Mixed Media Portraits book

With my new found face-drawing obsession I felt I needed a bit of guidance so I bought Pam Carriker’s Mixed Media Portraits book*
and I followed one of the tutorials which lead to this somewhat skewed version of a Pam Carriker head.

Close up of head sketch

Obviously it is nowhere near as good as one of her works, however, doing it did teach me a lot. I think the book will help my shading practice, which is one of my weak points, so it was a useful exercise. But I can’t help feeling a bit weirded out by the fact it feels more like someone else’s style than my own, not that I know what my style is yet but I’m working on it. But we all have to start somewhere don’t we?

Have you got a book or a other work that you have used to help your portrait art? Do share!

Over To You…

You know what you need to do! Link your faces artwork and spread the word on your blog and/or social media.

Catch you later Face-Artinators!
Kim

ps. Some other places you might want to link your work to: Art journal pages link up with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Art Journal Everyday post. Paint work link it up at Paint Party Friday. For items using something Old, New and Digital then go link it up on the Old, New and Digital Too challenge.



An InLinkz Link-up


Kim Dellow

Kim Dellow is an artist–designer–film-maker living the creative life in London, UK. She's a freelance creative for the craft industry and others, and she loves to share her art-ventures on her blog.

This Post Has 27 Comments

  1. Julie Ann Lee

    Couldn't wait to see what you are up to this week! I discovered Pam Carriker's work when I first started crafting about 2 years ago. I just stumbled on a Youtube of her and she is amazing! You've really inspired me now to look up some books on drawing techniques for faces. I might investigate this one, in fact. I think your practice piece looks great – lots of depth! xx

    1. Kim Dellow

      Hey Julie Ann, I'm so glad you are still enjoying the weekly share. I'm another Pam fan! I've watched a couple of her videos too, they are great to watch. I am enjoying the book, the first part is all the fundamentals in putting a face together and then the rest of it is made up of different mixed media ideas for what to make with your face art or using different materials to make a face. I think for me the first part is the most useful, particularly, as I said above, for the shading practice. Have fun looking for books! Kx

  2. Inky and Quirky

    Another stunner Kim! I highly recommend Jane Davenport's wonderful new book,it's absolutely brilliant and detailed,a great reference book. Also Dina Wakley's 2nd book too is really good.
    Have a fab weekend
    Hugs
    Donna xxx

    1. Kim Dellow

      Thank you Donna, I've seen Jane's book, her faces are beautiful, I am very tempted by it. Is the Dina book you mention her Art journal courage book? I shall have to go check it out! Thanks. x

  3. Jacqueline Wild

    That looks like a really solid study! Well done. It takes lots of patience to do that. I have got Jane Davenports 'beautiful faces' which is really inspiring. I love her style and I'd really recommend it x

    1. Kim Dellow

      Thanks Jacqueline, Jane's style is gorgeous and her book looks lovely, I am tempted it looks like it might be quite inspiration, is it practical as well with lots of techniques? Kx

  4. Linda Kunsman

    You're doing a fab job with your delicate shading Kim! For me I have found the online class "Radiant Faces" to be extremely helpful to me because there are 9 different teachers with varied styles. I can learn the techniques and still adapt my own way. And, like the commenters above I am looking forward to getting Jane's book! I have both Dina Wakley's books which I really love too.

    1. Kim Dellow

      Ooo now, I shall go check that workshop out! Thanks Linda sounds like a great idea! Which of Dina's books would you recommend particularly for face work? Kx

  5. Ileana

    I like the softness of the face. Looks like a great book. I really like Andrew Loomis' Drawing the Face and Hands book, too!

    1. Kim Dellow

      Thanks Ileana, Glad you like it! Thanks for the book suggestion, I will go check that out. Kx

  6. Giggles

    Wonderful face Kim…and I too have shading issues and feel like I am copying someone style when I use their images… but I watched a video where the fellow said to learn to draw whatever properly and then deviate to your own style…makes sense…once you have the face and shading down then you can do your own thing… a good practice I guess… Thanks for hosting…love this! Also check out Tommy Kanes draw me badge of all the different people drawing him…it's amazing how different they all are!!

    Hugs Giggles

    Hugs Giggles

    1. Kim Dellow

      I think you are right. I read once that even people like Turner would sit and copy the masters to learn his art. So if it ok for the likes of Turner LOL! But I'm never comfortable copying, it just feels wrong, hopefully the more I practice the quicker my own style will start to appear!
      I shall go check out Tommy Kanes, thanks for the suggestion!
      Kx

  7. denthe

    Don't worry, your own style will come shining through. I love your experiment with shading and I think it's very well done. I have started out with faces in a workshop with SuziBlu, years ago. Loved her style of teaching. But there are so many great workshops out there now. Another really good one is Face 2 face drawing class by Motley Soul. Very democratic prizes too!

    1. Kim Dellow

      Thanks Denthe, 🙂 OOo I do love SuziBlu, I wonder if she has any e-course, I shall go check that out, and I will go check out the Face 2 face class too, thanks for the suggestions and encouragement! Kx

  8. Tiffany Hiller

    Hi, kim I have been following your Friday faces for a while, and I do love the shading on this one. I would love to share my faces but I don't have a blog, and I don't know about online galleries. Like how to join them. Or what they are called. I have Jane's book too, and it is a really good learning tool, with stepped out photographed faces, and in different mediums. And specialized sections clearly defined for eyes, nose, lips and ears. My faces before and after jane, are easy to tell, I've noticed great improvement, can't recommend it enough, I bought mine from her website and she signs every book.

    1. Kim Dellow

      Hey Tiffany, thanks for the run down of the book, that is very helpful, I think it is going on my wish list!
      I'm so glad you are enjoying the link up, do you show your pictures anywhere on the internet like Facebook perhaps? If you are interested in setting up an online gallery I could make some suggestions for you and you could see which you would get on with. They are free and once you have the hang of them they don't need too much tech know-how to post to.
      Kx

    2. Tiffany Hiller

      Thanks kim, yes I would love some suggestions please, keeping in mind my tech know how is pretty basic.

    3. Kim Dellow

      Hey Tiffany, if you are not into starting a blog or using Facebook or Instagram for your photos there are other options. The first online gallery I had was with Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/), the basic level is free, you register then upload your files following the instructions on screen. You can also follow people and comment on photos you like in flickr. Another option is to find an art or craft forum you would be interested in and that allows you to host your photos with, I've used a few but mostly for my cardmaking work.
      There are also things like Tumblr that you can use like a mini-blog and just post a photo to, I've not used this myself but plenty of people use it as a gallery or as a blog.
      Hope some of these ideas help!
      Kx

    4. Tiffany Hiller

      Thanks kim, I have a home page on jennie bellies journal workshops, and I have uploaded artwork on there, in my gallery, could I use that to link to? And how do I know the url to link directly to my gallery? Sorry, I don't know much about all this, it's relatively new.

    5. Tiffany Hiller

      Thanks kim, I do have a "my page", on jennie bellie ' journal workshop, and I have uploaded artwork to my gallery, could I link to there, and also where do I find the url to link directly to my page? Thanx for being so helpful, sorry for being a pain.

    6. Kim Dellow

      Ooo that might work, although I've got a feeling that if it is a private gallery anyone not a member might just go to a sign up page, but we can give it a go.

      I'm not 100% sure how that gallery works but try getting to the page that just shows the picture you want to link up. You might be able to do this by clicking on the specific picture in your gallery, or if there is a forum associated with the group you could always try asking there.

      Anyway, once you are on the page with your art find the address box in your browser, this is usually the white box either at the top or the bottom of the screen.

      Copy the address from that box using your cursors and right button, then come to this weeks' Show Your Face and click the 'Add Your Link' button and follow the instructions, the copied link will go in the first 'link' box, again use your cursor and right button to paste the URL address into place.

      This weeks' Show Your Face is here: http://www.kimdellow.co.uk/2015/05/art-it-friday-show-your-face_29.html

      Hope it works!

  9. Danielle M

    Hi Kim! Love your sketch and thank you for hosting this week!

    1. Kim Dellow

      Great to see you here again sharing your 100 portrait project with another amazing face. Thanks Danielle. Kx

  10. June Walker

    Looks like a good book for drawing faces. I love the way you've captured the structure in your drawing of this face!! Faces are an unlimited source of wonder…inspirational to draw.

    1. Kim Dellow

      Thanks June, glad you could link up again in Show Your Face this week, your faces are always an inspiration too!

  11. It's a great stern face, Kim. Don't we all start with copying others and then incorporate it in our own style. You do have a recognisable own style, sweetie.

    Love and hugs
    Maarit

    1. Kim Dellow

      Thanks Maarit, sweet of you to say that I have a style with my faces 🙂 I think you are totally right, no art is made in a vacuum and we build on what has gone before. Hope you are having a good week. Kx

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