29 Faces Challenge Day 2

In my circles guy faces are few and far between. Not sure if it's because artists are really trying to master the craft of nailing the beautiful female face, or if the male face is less inspiring. Regardless, I find them a challenge and hope to focus a good number of my sketches on the male face.

This image began in my sketchbook because I fell in love with the orange and green of the squash plants in the collage piece. Sadly, when I glued the pieces on, the paper was too thin to keep the toner and much of the beauty rubbed off. Rather than start over, I chose to go with the flow, stay with the same color palate, and embrace the texture. 

I then collaged a background and set off to sketch more of the face. 

After adding some paint, markers, gesso, and slick paint for an outline, I love that I captured the essence of this guy in my 25 minute window. Loose, inquisitive, earthy, my kind of guy, :) For me, if a face looks "face(ish)" I am one step closer to creating faces in my own artistic style rather than seeking perfection of other artists styles. Excellence of Effort is way more important than trying to lock our artistic spirit in a "perfection quest." Let that go...strive for "ISH."