Experimenting with Faces

I always enjoy playing with faces.  Many months ago I bought this face stencil from Julie Fei Fen Balzer (one of my All Time Favorite artists and on line class teachers!!!).

Never used it.  Then remembered it when I was re-watching a DVD called All About Faces.  Julie shows how to shade faces and how to USE the stencil without making it as rigid a tool as you would imagine.

So I tried her technique which involves penciling in the basic edges of the stencil and then glopping (aka casually applying paint in large areas) for the face background and the hair.

Next you use the stencil again to pencil in the eyes, nose and mouth.  Then add a couple of layers of paint for shading the face.  Then use the stencil to add the dark lines.  Then use a teeny tiny paintbrush to connect the stencil line and add details to the facial features.  And VOILA - you have a face. 

It looks like a Julie Face (of course - no surprise).  And I wouldn't just add Julie Faces all over my journal or whatever.  BUT - here is the awesome part - it made me feel secure about the location of facial features. 

I have been drawing faces for years but this gave me a whole new layer of confidence.  I was surprised.  Didn't really realize I was lacking confidence.  Ha!

Sooooo - this is what I did next........

I took the blobby faces that I had made with the Gelli plate (again based on Julie FFB's great instructions) and bravely added lines.  I made a color copy first (on the left) to show the difference a few simple lines could make.  I didn't add anything other than the black lines.

HUGE difference.  So I tried it with a few others... check it out!

Are you ready for a surprise?  This guy was made using the same face as the yellow guy as a guideline for the Gelli painting.  Uh huh!  Shows how unpredictable that whole process can be!  And super FUN. 

One more.....

And I realize this little chickie looks rather evil.  In part because of her green face.  But I am dazzled by the structure that a few little lines can add.

I am going to experiment with this some more.  AND cut out these new funky faces and put them in my journal.  New post coming SOON! 
barbara