ALL artists at one point in their life will use themselves as subjects for their creation. For this assignment we were asked to do three separate self portraits. The first was a normal pose. I used my iPhone instead of a mirror because it was just easier having the photo in front of me. I printed it out in black and white and used the grid system (one of my favorite artistic tools). I used a varying degree of graphite pencils and shaded using a paper stump.

For the second self portrait we were asked to do a silly or angry face. I did the first thing that came to mind and the result is below. I decided to not make a background for this drawing and I think it makes the portrait pop out. I once again went to my fail safe of the grid system and graphite pencils.

For the last self portrait we were asked to do something “interesting.” I decided to lay my head down on my hand at the table and look up. There’s a mystique with the pose and how the eyes are looking up into the camera. The way I was bent over the table created my face in shadow and created a neat atmosphere to draw. Since I had done two drawings similar in style I wanted to experiment with different strokes and make it look “sketched.” I used graphite pencils, a kneaded eraser, a paper stump and the grid system.