Thank you to Chris, Annie, Gabrielle and Melissa for playing along with my “Name That Guy” contest. I was very entertained by your creativity, and there are certainly some interesting story ideas there. I may revisit them at some point.

My choice was made a lot easier by one thing. Well, two things, the second being that Chris was just plain ol’ wrong about That Guy being him. Chris is a much better looking guy. (I’d prove it with a photo, but I don’t seem to have any but this picture of a picture online anywhere.)

The first thing that made it easy for me was that Melissa and Gabrielle each created a very interesting character … but neither of them actually gave him a name! Since that was actually the point of the contest, I am forced to eliminate them from the competition. No hard feelings, I hope? Rules, after all, are rules.

So (by default, and I’m glad of that because it means I didn’t actually have to choose), Annie is the winner of the Name That Guy contest! Here is Annie’s entry:

This is Hoben and he’s one of the Creators in the land of Ephily. The Creators are a select few artists who sit in a room and sketch pictures of new creatures and when the sketches are finished off with a dusting of magic sand over the ink, the creature then comes to life somewhere in the land. What makes Hoben a good creator is that not only does he have a mind for subtle detail, but he also understands balance and incorporates that into what he creates.

Hoben is a good fit, I think, and I love the idea of people sketching their world into existence. I wonder if I could get a hold of some of that magic sand and sprinkle it over my picture of Ben Barnes … no, Stace, no. Don’t go there.

Annie, let me know if you want the bookwish or a picture. Actually, I owe you several pictures, since you suggested three of the subjects I took on in the past month. Let me know which (if any) you’d like to have.

Thanks, everyone, for playing along!

So I had this idea for the final 7 faces of my nearly-completed challenge.

Given that I had only 3 days to draw those 7 pictures (because my self-discipline is poor and I did not draw every single day, like I was supposed to)…

… and because I wanted to test my consistency by redrawing the same face multiple times…

…. and because I wanted to try out drawing a bigger variety of expressions…

… and because I still had it in mind that I wanted to bookend my project with self-portraits…

I decided that I would draw 7 pictures of myself as a sort of grand finale to this whole thing.

It started off well. I went home Friday night and took a bunch of cheesy snapshots of myself with cheesy expressions on my face: anger, surprise, etc. They weren’t great photos, but I got them printed at the drugstore, so you know my intention must have been sincere, if I was going to let some teen-aged photo clerk see photos of me making a fool of myself. But the photos were meant for a reference only, so I didn’t really care what they looked like.

So, come Sunday afternoon (yeah, yeah … I waited till Sunday afternoon; ref. above mention of self-discipline deficiency), I sat down and pulled out my sketch pad, pencil and photos. I told myself that I wasn’t going to spend too much time on any one picture — I had 7 to do, after all, and even if I only spent 30 minutes on each one (a reasonable estimate for the others I’ve done this month) that would mean 3 and half hours. These were going to be rough and dirty sketchwork, only.

I was on number 3 (surprised!) when I realized I wasn’t having fun. Remember way back at #9 I said I wasn’t enjoying trying to draw real people. So what made me think I’d want to do it 7 times in a row? And, compounding the issue, do it 7 times using less-than-flattering pictures of myself? Disregarding the quality of the pictures, which wasn’t encouraging, I couldn’t get past the boredom of what I was doing. Not even giving myself permission to be perfectly bad by saying I wouldn’t have to post them made me want to keep going.

Was it the repetition of doing the same face over and over (so much for my career as a graphic novelist!)? Or was it that my face is just so darn boring? I dunno. I just knew I didn’t want to draw that face anymore, no matter how many funny expressions it was twisted into. I even tried a few hours later, but couldn’t urge myself beyond a basic oval for the head and circles for eyeballs.

I told myself that enough was enough and there was no sense forcing myself to do something I wasn’t enjoying, and that I wasn’t going to be proud to show off in the end. So I stopped, and since I felt relief instead of guilt, I know it was the right choice.

The only thing left to decide was whether or not I was going to try and make up those seven faces once my 30 days was up. Which, ultimately, was more important? The time spent or the quantitative output. Truth is, the answer would have been a toss-up, except for one thing — there are all these words battering at my brain, trying to get out.

See, what with trying to produce a decent looking drawing a day, all my personal time has been pretty filled up, and my writing output in the last month has been practically nil. Now, it could be that I needed that verbal down time, but my writer-mind is starting to reassert itself. Drawing is fun, but those words are always going to demand more attention from me.

So, I am calling and end to my self-imposed 30 Days, 30 Faces challenge, with only 23 “finished” drawings. I have learned a lot — especially how much more there is to learn! Don’t think that this means you won’t see more drawings from me in the future; revisions of some I’ve done this past month, and new faces that suggest themselves to me. I also want to try and paint some of them — for some reason, I have a particular reason to paint Emryn. And sense I am a shameless exhibitionist, you are sure to see some of it pop up here.

I want to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who commented — your encouragement meant (and continues to mean) a lot. There’s just something about having an appreciative audience that compels me to keep going. It must be the latent actress in me, always seeking applause. Seriously, you’re the best.

Oh: today’s the last day to make an entry into the contest to Name This Guy. I’ll make a decision tomorrow and post the winner.

That is all! We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father. Prepare to die.”

Yes, that Inigo, but not based on Mandy Patinkin in the movie. Nin suggested him as a subject a few weeks back, but before I got to him I decided I wasn’t having much fun trying to draw actual likenesses of people and failing miserably.

But then I realized that I could just draw Inigo from the book, not the movie. Never liked his hair in the movie anyway …

– an then Piccoli was pieced by something so dazzling even he had to open his eyes –

– to see a young man approaching, tall, blade-thin, muscular, spring-legged, who was handsome enough but would have been more than that, save for two scars that paralleled his cheeks –

I think he may be a little too angular, and the scars make him look even more gaunt. I didn’t have too much time to spend on the hair, either — this was done on my lunch break while in the park. And his goatee needs serious attention.

Well, maybe revisit later, if Nin wants the picture!

I’m preloading this post to go up on Sunday afternoon. I’ve got 7 more pics to do this weekend — that’s a lot! I don’t know if I’ll get it done or not. Tune in Monday to find out!

Back to the time of The False Queen. Someone who is not quite the antagonist he seems at first. He’s supposed to be extremely handsome, and he has a temper.

Long hair still a problem with this size paper. His nose could maybe use a bit more definition.

But over all I’m pleased.

A legendary blacksmith who forged the sword Rithgain for Dox Imbra. He went on later to many adventures and misadventures. You can go back to yesterday’s post to see the only bit of his story that’s made it out of my head and onto paper yet…

I like that character that comes through, but he looks a little too … Disney-ish. A bit like Gaston, non?

(I don’t know if the pic is showing up or not … link is here.

Today, a figure from the history of the world in which The False Queen. Dox Imbra was the second of the 10 great queens that lead Elar to greatness in the world (though it was known as Ular when she reigned). She was a fierce warrior, and led the defense against the invading Vinkyr. Her story is both glorious and tragic … and sadly mostly still in my head. There is but one brief scene yet told, told from the point of view of one of the men who loved her.

In the histories, she is known only as Dox Imbra, or Daughter of Imbra, who was the first of the Queens of Ular. No one is quite sure if she was really Imbra’s daughter, or if it was an honorific. Likewise, there is no record of her given name — she gave it up before her death, in shame and grief, and it was excised from history.

I know, though, that her name was Aven.

Not bad. I actually didn’t use a reference pic for this one. I’m having trouble with the longer hair on some of these pics, because I don’t have a lot of room to work with. My sketch pad is just 8 1/2 by 6 1/4, and I use most of that space for the head itself. It doesn’t leave much room for flowing locks.

I can’t help feeling that everyone looks a little bit generic. How does one make them look more like individuals? Color, of course, would help, but there must be more to it.

So, I’ve got 4 days left in the month … and 10 pics left to post. Only 2 of those are done already, leaving me to draw 8, or 2 a day, if I want to finish on the 30th. Not sure how that will work out just yet, even if some of those days are weekend days …

See ya tomorrow!

This is one of the antagonists from The False Queen, Jezira, who is married to King Siodan, ruler of Elar. I can’t show you a snippet, because I’ve only written a single paragraph with her in it so far. She’s supposed to be sexy in a way that comes from being strong and powerful instead of just being, well, sexy. How well did I capture that … ?

You get two for the price of one here, because I first decided to try doing a full profile of Jezira. When it started going badly, I realized it was hard to do a profile when I didn’t even know what I wanted her to look like from the front.

You can see how that turned out.

Bit of a problem with the foreshortening going on there — I was trying to give the effect of her holding her chin up sort of arrogantly. She just looks like she has a smooshed face. And the hair … I couldn’t think what her hair should look like (I’m trying to avoid long wavy locks on everyone, you know?) and ended up with this, which is really … not working for me.

Definitely one I’ll want to revisit some time in the future.

By the way, I’m still taking requests if you have someone you want me to draw (Holly … you need to send me Hannah’s desc) and also don’t forget the contest to name this guy. There’s been some interesting entries already! You have till the end of June to submit yours.

Thanks everyone!

Erise was born to be the ruler of Elar, but she was kidnapped as a young child and raised far away. When my current work-in-progress opens, she has just failed to win back her throne from her usurping cousin. Her final moments are spent changing Robin’s life, but if you go and read the snippet, “Quaren” in the text should be “Emryn” — there’s been some name swapping since I posted that.

I think I’m happier with this sketch than any I’ve done so far!

‘Nuf said.

(Work content filter is still being picky, so please let me know if the picture is not showing up. in the meantime you can visit it at deviant art.)

Robin is the heroine of my current work-in-progress, The False Queen. She’s not meant to be quite as young as she looks in this picture (or as she reads in the first chapter, apparently), but she does have a certain deliberate naivety that comes across. When we first meet her, she’s so poor that she is robbing the dead on a battlefield. For a glimpse of what happens next, you can read this old Friday Snippet, though keep in mind that some of that text has already been changed.

This is a much better attempt at Robin than last Friday’s. I’m pleased … especially since I’ve conquered head tilting without getting all lopsided.

Thanks everyone for continuing to look. We’re over halfway done now!

(For unclear reasons, my server won’t load the picture … please let me know if the photo doesn’t show up; in the meantime, here’s a link to it at deviant art)

Ugh. After the success of Quaren and Emryn, I expected better of my attempt to draw Robin, the female protagonist of the novel-in-progress. But the pencil had other ideas. Not much to say about this. Doesn’t look anything like Robin, and it even lacks the charm of my Lopsided Lylyra.

That is all. You may commence with your weekend.