Sweet potatoes have nothing to do with self portraits except that this one time they came together in my mind over the past month. My original plan for this month was to discuss and share my love of sweet potatoes. I had a few things to discuss - I would go into my family history of my maternal grandfather being a farmer and growing sweet potatoes and my fond memories of farming with him. Then I was going to discuss my enjoyment of this North Carolina state vegetable and maybe even share a recipe or 2.

But self doubt crept in about my content and if drawing sweet potatoes for a coloring page would even work. Also was this idea artistic enough?

Then entered self portraits stage right. One night I decided to look through my photo reel to remember some recent art meanderings. I had forgotten that sometime last spring I began to draw self portraits as a bit of a study and found them quite interesting and weird and fun all wrapped up into one. But sharing them felt too soon as some portraits felt raw and not created with good techniques.

But now as I sit and take another look, I am ready to share even with the not so good techniques because I learned through them all.

Here’s to sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of some recent self portraits…

A recent quick self portrait sketch from my journal.

Self portraits go quite a ways back in the art world. Many classical artists from centuries ago used the self portrait to hone their skills and show off their abilites. There were many reasons artists created self portraits and this article is a fun one to read on it. Click on link below:

Artist Network article

This article goes on to say….

“Historically, in fact, artists used self-portraits as a kind of calling card, attesting to their ability to capture a likeness and giving a sense of their capabilities. And, yes, self-portraits are convenient exercises because the model is always available and works for free.” ~ author of artistsnetwork.com article Courtney Jordan

Chin up self portrait study with graphite crayon.

Drawing self portraits can be scary and nerve racking and make you feel terribly inadequate as an artist. Yet, as I was working through the judgement and only trying a few times, I could feel it slowly change in my mind. I began to see them as a little bit of a fun challenge and loved how wonky and weird some were becoming. Then before I knew it, I had a small collection and saw a few as funny caricatures. Even when that was not my goal, I still learned along the way.

I used a wide variety of media to create these self portrait studies. This included:

regular blue ink pen
Watercolor paint
Colored pencils
Graphite crayon
Pencils

Indigo Blue colored pencil, no pencil line first.

With almost all of these self portraits, I decided to challenge myself and not draw lightly with a pencil first. I told myself, whatever medium I chose, I would do the self portrait in its entirety with that medium. Some I drew quickly in the mornings before I left for work, others I would add in my sketchbook to continue to improve my skills. Here is one below I wanted to sketch out first and then refine.

I drew out a loose contour drawing self portrait first in pencil here and then check out below for this one finished off in black lines.

I added some of my favorite shapes and continuous line work around my self portrait. Then I added pencil shading to give it a little depth.

Smiles in a self portrait drawing can be tricky because you have to hold that expression for a considerable length of time. I could have taken a picture and drawn from it, but instead I chose to draw live. This explains some of the rather unhappy looking expressions on my face. Drawing can accentuate these features at times.

Self portraits can be such a rich activity filled with good technique work and new perspectives on how you are seen as an artist or even how you see yourself. I want to create more and keep honing these drawing skills to better my craft. Would you dare to try drawing a self portrait?

Ways to begin a self portrait:

Set up your camera on your phone in selfie mode and set it so your eyes can easily move from your image to your paper without moving your head.
Begin with simple tools, just paper and a pencil.
Research contour drawing techniques (tons of videos online) and draw yourself in a contour drawing.
- Contour drawing is defined as drawing the outer edges of the object (or self portrait) and the important lines within that drawn object (self portrait).
Or try drawing just the outside shape of your hair and edge of your face.
Here is great article about using a mirror to draw a self portrait:
- Artistnetwork.com article by Sandrine Pelissier

Draw about 5-10 self portraits before you judge any of them. Trust me, you will quit before you even give yourself a chance if you don’t.

October 2022 Bookmark Page

Print out this page and color your sweet potato bookmarks for all your favorite books.

Click here for this month's page

Sweet potatoes and self portraits! I did not see that coming, but I am thrilled I put them together for a fun post.

Stay creative out there~

Hannah

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Sweet Potatoes and Self Portraits

Artist Network article