100 Heads in 10 Days Challenge

The 100 heads in 10 days Challenge was created by Almed Aldoori you can learn more about him and the details about this challenge here. I saw other artist on Youtube and Instagram doing this challenge and at first I was intimidated by it. I thought about, what if I don't see any improvements and this just shows how much my work really sucks? Or What if I still don't like my paintings after all and all work is in vain? I also thought, What if I quit after a few days or I'm not about to do it for 10 days straight and need breaks? 

All of those concerns are valid. My intention with this challenge was to see....

• Where I am with my work?
• What areas I need to work on more ?
• Have fun
• Explore my talent and creativity 
• Draw faster
• Draw with more confidence
• Have a better layout for my paintings

Before I started this challenge it would take me on average of 1-2 hours to draw and create a layout for my paintings with lots of drawing and erasing. And for the last few ones I haven't like them enough to share on social media because I would notice after painting that something was off with the proportions , lighting, colors, I over worked a piece or for one reason or another I hated my work. 

Day 1

Day 2

Since starting this challenge I've started drawing faster without worrying so much on the details. I noticed most of my work is portraits with people not really doing much. They all have resting Bitch face in one way or another. I tend to stick to more dead on portraits with even proportions that all look like school photos that were over posed with no creativity allowed in the subjects. My portfolio had become the very thing I dreaded to see in others work as a model. I realize I haven't really been challenging myself to grow outside of my comfort zone as much as I thought. So this challenge forced me to to well, challenge that. I drew more hair styles, glasses, open mouths, girls blowing bubble, accessories, etc than I have ever before. Instead of drawing something and being frustrated that I have no idea what I'm doing and abandoning the project and starting over to capture it in a way I'm more comfortable I didn't let that bother me. This habit is similar to writing something and realizing you don't know how to spell it so you use a different word or change the whole sentence entirely to work around it. 

Day 3

I actually made an effort to refresh my memory of how to draw faces, human anatomy, and I even took a skillshare class on portrait drawing in order to learn how to do the things I forgot or never learned. You'll notice some of these pages have scribbles and doodles of mouths and noses. I almost never painted anyone with and open mouth and I almost never use a variety of noses. When it comes to ears depending on the size of the subject I usually don't put to much stock into it. I mostly cover them with hair. 

Day 4

Day 4 and Day 5

Day 5

Day 6

I almost never actually sit down and draw anymore like I used to before I started painting. After I started my journey in Watercolor painting drawing has just become a background or layout for paintings and a way to get the idea out for different projects I'm working on. 

 Day 7

The more I drew, the more I realized how much I have not learned yet or struggle to draw now. So It might explain why I'm so unhappy with my paintings lately. Because I'm growing and my eye is getting sharper. I'm starting to self critique because for the first time ever I'm actually painting with the intention to grow. Not just to create for the purpose of creating not really caring about the end result. I actually want my work to be good and not just there.

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10 

Day 10 I decided to test out where I am based on all the hard work and warming up I did within the past few days. I drew bigger faces that filled the page and colored some of them. I liked how the women below has her face smushed and her hands are in an interesting pose.

 I like how her head is slighting turned but her body is straight. I added some color pencils to her hair color. 

This is the first time I drew a drag queen and an open mouth pose. I used the rule of 3's grid technique of these last drawings to I can get the proportions right. I like this better than drawing small. 

  I drew a few men and a half drag queen half man. I sealed these in watercolor to keep the charcoal from smudging. I won't be doing this on all drawings in this book because it's not a mixed media or watercolor sketchbook and the paper buckles a lot. 

In conclusion, I am very beginner in my work as an artist for the amount of time I have been practicing. I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to human body anatomy I'm lacking a lot because I mainly draw portraits. As far as portraits go I need more practice of different facial expressions, ears, noses, open mouths, hair, and lighting. 

This challenge was fun and I look forward to redoing this challenge in watercolor to test out where I am in shading, lighting, and adding more variety to my work. I would also like to try more art challenges and try Almed's 500 hands in a week. I'm not very good at drawing hands. If it's to complicated I mostly just skip it or do something silly like give my human subject a hook, hooves, tentacles, or hide it. Anything to get out of actually challenging myself to grow.

Day 10 

I did explore a lot and it helped to open me up to exploring more in my work. I got to see other artist process and journey on Youtube and Instagram and it inspired me and encouraged me to create more.

 One of my greatest intentions in life to always be learning, growing, exploring, and be open to positive things life throws at me. It gives me strength to get through the hard times and makes all worth it in the end, knowing I at least tried and was open to growth.

In the middle of this challenge I painted two subjects one male and one female. The male I tried to be more true to the photograph and explore different coloring techniques. In the female, I wanted to paint a 3/4 view in an interesting pose. I liked the references pose and look, but once I got a general idea of what I wanted to do, I went my own way with it. I only spent max 10 minutes drawing before I started painting. I felt more comfortable drawing and confident in the layout I created in my work. 

Witch Set Planner Layout / Plan with me

Week 2 using the same set and some extra stickers 

I did not do a video for this set. 

Getting into Goth 2018: Goth Books

If you are new to Goth in 2018 or within recent years you may have preconceived misconceptions about Goth. What is it? Where did it come from? How did it become a thing? How come it's lasted so long? Or if one of your loved ones has started dressing in black and listening to The Cure, dying their hair, and adding body modifications and identifying as either Goth or Alternative. You may be concerned or wondering exactly what the hell that is. And when you come to that thought you have two choices,

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1) Be complacent in your ignorance, make ignorant comments, jokes, not take them seriously, tell them it's a phase it will go away. Don't look into it from actual Goths in the scene, listen to the music, read up about it or anything, and eventually get used to it and come to accept them or part ways.

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2) Read Goth books, magazines, go to youtube and watch goth youtubers, follow popular Goth's on Instagram, get a shallow surface area of it based on the fashion and the music. And if it really interest you keep digging, continue to educate yourself, and go down the rabbit hole of all things considered, Goth and Alternative and form your own opinions about it.

If you are a person who's new to Goth, you will gravitate towards all of the information, magazines, books, music videos, music, biographies and interviews by musicians to see their inspirations and influences on the scene. The history, fashion, literature, art, architecture, the lives of the authors, musicians, etc themselves, and more. And just all around anything dark, spooky,  and supernatural. I have personally stayed away from the heavy conversations of all things regarding what is Goth? Because I don't want to come across as an authority or an elitist know it all. I have always been a firm believer that you know real Goth's when you take time to get to know them after you've spent time with enough fake people, you'll recognize who's real and who's just in it for the wrong reasons, or is completely ignorant about the subject entirely.

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If Goth is something you are truly drawn to then whatever it is you like, whatever outlet you have will drive you into your own spiral into learning everything you possibly can about it and seeing if it's right for you so you can develop your own style, your own taste in music, your own hobbies you enjoy rather that contributes to the scene or not. If you are fortunate enough to have any kind of local scene or travel to one near you then all of those things will just come naturally to you.

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There is one thing I will say about the mysteries of all things Goth, there are do's and don't's about it. It's really just about respect for the scene and the people in it who have a genuine interest. If you find yourself drawn to the scene in this current day and age of social media where people can be internet famous; i.e Instagram models, and popular Youtubers who receive free items for having a high following from fast fashion companies who appropriate Goth elements into their fashions to sell you a Goth look. And Instagram and Youtube show the Goth lifestyle as being for the rich, skinny, and the mostly white. You may have misconceptions about what it really means to be Goth. And why "Elder Goths" are annoyed by this new trend.

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Goth is not something you can buy in the store, there are goth brands but it's not something you put on and take off at the end of the day. It's not something you can stop being apart of because you don't look the part.

It's not a few popular post punk bands in the 80's, but it's good to get you started in to right direction to learn more underground bands and deeper music.

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It's not a costume
Not a cosplay
A character, there are Goth characters but Goth in and of itself is not a character

Occult symbols you don't know the meaning of but look edgy and cool, Occult symbols are great when you know the meaning of them and want to embrace the positive aspects of them. But when you don't it's disrespectful to others religions.

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It's not an act of rebellion against your parents or society, unless it's in a way that you are embracing your true self as a act of rebellion to pretending to be something you are not to make others happy as if your own happiness doesn't matter

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It's not  a shock factor
A performance, but there are Goth performers
It's not just to scare people, but if that's your thing enjoy
It's not a passing trend, But it comes and goes every couple of years and it has it's pro's and con's
It's not a phase for most people who got into it for the right reasons, but some do grow out of it and it doesn't mean they are any less legit than that Goth's who are still apart of the scene

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It's not a hair style, but there are certain hairstyles that Goth and Alternative people naturally gravitate too
It's not body modifications, but many Goth's can choose to get modifications if they wish, but not required
It's not just makeup and fashion, but there are various styles that fit into Goth


It's not exclusive to white people, skinny people, or the able bodied
People of color, various religions, cultures, sizes and shapes can be apart of it and disabled people are welcome too.

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It's not a religion, but there are many Goth's who are religious, pagan, atheist, agnostic, etc.
It's not a cult, but there are some Goth's in cults
It's not an evil thing but there are evil people the scene

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If you are looking for more intellectual stimulation and you want to get a deeper understanding of the big question of what is Goth? I highly recommend reading books of Goth from Goth's in the 80's, photographers, sociologist, psychologist, Goth enthusiast, etc. so you can get a well rounded view of the scene. And you wanna form your own sense of fashion, makeup, decorate your living space then the internet is great for ideas. But you'll have a deeper connection from actual books and have a more unique perspective on it and have something that's more catered to your needs as your own person.
 

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(Yes I know Mansion isn't Goth, and can be problematic AF! But it's a very interesting book which I enjoyed when I was in high school that tells the story about his life starting in childhood. And gives a bit of insight into his personality and lifestyle) 

Goth is about being unique
It's creative expressions through many art forms
It's being observant of things that are over looked
It's all about embracing your true self and living life to the fullest
It's about supporting others in the scene who are positive content creators, musicians, artist, fashion designers, etc.

Disclaimer: Some of these books I've read over the years, and some I haven't so I can't really tell you that much about them. The purpose of this blog post was not meant to be a review of Goth books, but the show the various ones that exist and can give you better insight and visuals into the scene. And it's still a better view than what you would get online. These are all relatively non-fiction books but I do recommend some fiction books with Goth or spooky characters for fun and more in depth looks. Enjoy and leave comments below for feedback.

How to make your planner Goth AF!

1) You'll need a planner, preferably something that has three vertical slots for each day as well as a monthly layout. Like this

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I prefer ones around 8.5x11 because I can add folder to keep planner accessories and stickers in. As well as documents I need throughout the year. But feel free to pick whatever size you like. 

2) You may need to stock up on Halloween scrapbook paper, Halloween washi tape, Halloween stamps and sticker in your local craft store while they are in season. I prefer to do my Halloween shopping the first week of November when everything is 70% - 90% or buy one get one free. But the downside to this is that some of the good things I had my eye on in August may be gone already.

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Last Year I got Martha Stewart's Halloween scrapbook paper and it had a color scheme of blacks, grays, golds, and silvers and some were metallic. It has lots of skulls, spiders, bats, moths, and more spooky delights.

3) If you like to decorate the edges you may want to grab some of the Halloween washi tape while it's out in stores.

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Here's an example of some I got last year but there's so much more variety than that. 

4) Great time to stock up on stickers and stamps while they are in season. These are great for adding to your planner stickers or something to use instead as they still add a spooky touch. 

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Unfortunately, I didn't stock up on stamps last year or the year before that because I prefer stickers. But if stamps are more your thing go for it. 

5) No need to wait till Halloween to start your planner journey. You can visit sites like Etsy for planner stickers to use once and done or you can choose printable planner stickers. That means th once you buy it, it downloads in your account or email within seconds of purchase. You can print it out on sticker paper or regular paper and use a glue stick. You will have the file forever and can use it as many times as you'd like. That means endless possibilities for all of your planner decorating needs. 

6) Etsy is also a good place to seek journal paper like this one and more. Halloween/Gothic scrapbook or journal paper can serve as a background to set the tone for your weekly layout. Or it can be used as a planner cover, binder cover, or to cover up those over the top girly in between page with lots of flowers and sometimes quotes you may not agree with. 

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Here's a few examples of how journal/scrapbook paper can be used. 

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7) Planner stickers! They come in all sorts of varieties. You can get ones that fit into Erin Condren planners or Happy planners which are the most popular brands. Erin Condren allows for planner customization for your needs, but you'll have to do the decorating yourself. Unfortunately, they don't have anything dark and spooky not even for Halloween. Happy Planners are most commonly found in Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and other craft stores. They sell year round but at the end of the year they have sells. Happy Planners also have the option to start in the middle of the year with their 18-month planner which starts in June of the current year till the end, and starts again for a full year in January. 

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8) Planner cover can set the tone for your planner and help you decide what kind of year you want to have. What you want to include more of in your life. Or it can just be art to match your aesthetic. 

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9) Planner layout inspirations so you can get an idea of how to get started with using them.

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10) You can add in other things like decorated list like these to make the To Do list area a little more fun. 

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 The last step you'll need to do is get started is where you are with what you have and slowly start to add to it as you see fit. Change it up every week. Then at the end of the year you'll get to see how creative you were next to all you've accomplished over the last 365 days.