Thank you to everyone who chimed in support of my upcoming “30 Days, 30 Faces” art challenge, here and on LiveJournal. I’m gearing up to start on Sunday, June 1st — I figure I’ll let the calendar keep count for me instead of trying to do it myself.

Here’s a little teaser, a sketch I did over the weekend, modeled on a photo of Ben Barnes (you’ve doubtless seen his face all over town on Prince Caspian posters). Don’t get your hopes up that everything I post will be so nice looking — first of all, not all my models will be so cute. I also spent a lot more time on this then I will have to spend on anything on a daily basis, and it’s been copied and inked to boot (I’m still debating whether or not I want to dare try coloring it). What’s to come will doubtless be much rougher. But it does exemplify the style I’m shooting for, depending more on line than shading.

So, I’ve been busy gathering supplies and inspiration. I bought a small spiral sketchbook and a big eraser the other day, and a small pouch to carry pencils and erasers to keep me from losing them in the chaos of my room and/or purse. My drawing implement of choice is a plain ol’ #2 pencil; I figure if I can’t do it with that, all the fancy drawing pencils in the world aren’t going to make a difference. I am, however, thinking of getting a mechanical pencil for rough outlines, since the harder, finer lead marks will be easier to erase. I do a lot of erasing, believe me.

Since all the faces I draw out of my head seem to end up looking alike, I’ve decided to work from photos. That way I’ll have a better gauge to tell if I’m getting close to the mark or not. I’m putting together a collection of photographs of interesting faces and differing expressions. But I fear drawing purely random faces will get kind of boring (remember, I said I was interested in portraits of characters), so this is where you come in.

I’d like people to make recommendations of characters I should draw: they can be your characters, my characters, book characters, movie characters, game characters from your life … really, anyone. The only requirement is that you can provide a photo reference, or enough description that I can choose a photo reference myself (adapted as necessary in the drawing). The only two limitations are 1) no cartoon characters (I don’t want to copy someone else’s drawings) and 2) no political figures (cause we’ve all had enough of them this past year, right?).

Your reward for helping me out: if I do a drawing of someone you suggest — and it turns out halfway decently and you actually like it — I will do a cleaned-up, inked version of the artwork and mail it to you. I’ll even sign it for you, so when I am rich and famous it will be worth — well, doubt it will be worth much, but still. Free art! That’s a good deal, right? So put on your thinking cap and give me some suggestions: who would you like to see hanging on your wall?