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. 

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.

Painting Timelapse Video