Meaisín's Year of Daily Self-Portraits + Video

[Meaisín]

Attempting to complete daily self-portraits to improve! I felt inspired and began. It's a great exercise for driving me on and experimenting, and it makes sure that I'm drawing everyday. Keeping up so far, even if there have been some very late nights and terrible drawings. Mixed medias/styles and etc.
Will try to find more time to make sure I get the images uploaded more frequently.
Now that I've seen the other threads here, I'm even more inspired, and looking forward to the next day's portrait and hopefully, improvement :)

All comments/suggestions welcome, thanks for visiting.

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[Meaisín]

1st - 18th

Keeping the dailies going. Eighteen so far, here they are. Although I'm not sure if it's the best method, I've kept the medium/approach/angle relatively fresh in the hope of improvement.

Hope uploads are alright - couple of photos due to A3 book.

Thanks for views/comments/crits

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[Meaisín]

19th

Self Portrait from yesterday. Van Gogh drawing self portrait influence, so light pencil drawing under dip pen and ink.

Take it easy!

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[Meaisín]

20th

'Feeding Time!'
Today's self portrait. I had a bit of fun with it. Needed a change in theme and expression ^_^
Quick blue pencil sketch under 3B. I think my toning might need more control/decisions made before I start. A toning chart perhaps. Not sure how good it is to cross from hatching, suddenly into solid tone.

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[Meaisín]

21st

Hello again, here's today's. Blue pencil sketch under 4B. Drawing through sunglasses... ¬_¬
Don't think I'm too fond of this one. Took a little while, as the annotation shows, and I think I need to do a lot more studies. Im presuming more structure/muscle/bone/plane research. Drawing the face straight on as I see it might be flattening the drawing... I'm not sure. If I built up the forms underneath, I'd guess it would appear more three-dimensional.
Anyway, I'm sort of musing, but please reflect if you feel like it. All comments/crits/views welcome.

Ádh mór ort!

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[*ViRuS*]

your getting better as these go on, looks like your getting more comfortable with pencil already since your first one. good job =)
it wouldn't hurt to study the skull, and look at/do anatomy studies for the figure as well, as proportion and structure are your weak points.

[Meaisín]

*ViRuS* - Thanks for your comment. You're right, my figures and proportions need a lot of work; hopefully improving that with my life drawing too! I may try to work with a larger mirror or from a further distance in the future - maybe more practice with my figure in my SPs too :). I took the anatomy advice to heart...

22nd

Had wanted to do a self portrait like this for a while - good for reference studies and anatomy. I had a bit of fun with this one too, enjoyed it. I had a couple of Louise Gordon drawings next to me as reference as I tried to self portrait my skull in blue pencil. Then HB pencil for the self the outside world sees :). Should study more head anatomy.

Thanks, ta-ra!

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[Meaisín]

23rd

Tried the same thing again today with a different angle/reference book by my side - Joseph Sheppard. Was a great reference for forms, but had to obviously change the skull shaping/lighting/proportions to suit my sitting. I think some of the proportions are a bit off actually, but I'm still quite happy with the result. Took a while, but satisfying product.

Cheers!

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[no87]

good work man! keep it up :D

[Meaisín]

24th

no87 - Thanks for the encouragement! Sometimes it seems tough with animation/uni work/time etc. to get these done, but I actually really look forward to them, get excited about seeing future progress and trying new things - it's awesome/worthwhile to draw everyday :)

Here is yesterday's SP - a rather strange expression, and I think what I intended as a smile at first became a quizzical mouth, but oh well. Hope to improve on proportions and timescales.
Aim to get today's SP up later when I get a chance to knuckle down.
(Included - imagination doodles on a 'Merry Christmas' message to someone - learning my face! Crudely, but learning it nonetheless :P)

Thanks, love you bye! [Adam+Joe :)]

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[Meaisín]

25th

SP for today(or yesterday if you're pedantic... but my day hasn't ended till I shut down :))

Looks like I have a lazy eye and am very unhappy... Wanted to get in some colour though. I don't think I know how to use colouring pencils very well. It's tough to find a range, or appropriate colour sometimes. But I'm sure these exercises will help with colour when I start to use it more and try digipainting. Ah well, onwards and upwards...!

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[Meaisín]

26th

Happy to have tried a new expression, although I seem to have ended up really evil looking. HB with coloured pencil touches. I wanted to do something different from the start and it was just too tempting to add some sinister colour as the face developed. Hopefully it's alright; maybe my imagination just needed to breath :). Imaginary horns were hard to try and render realistically... I wasn't about to start on armour :P. I should probably try quicker exercises and focus on some figure studies.
Anyway, 'nuff talk, I appreciate all words and advice.

*Snarl*

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[Meaisín]

27th

Looking out the kitchen window this evening while my good friends cooked dinner :)

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[Meaisín]

28th

Wasn't feeling too great tonight - took me a while to get into this one and get the basic layout/proportions working. Can still note errors with nose and eyes mainly I think, but s'ok. Still beginning by drawing features or edges floating in space, then lining up relationships/interactions with the edges of other features.

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[Lawrence Humphrey]

Yesterday's, number 27, was really great--keep up the good work.

[Meaisín]

Lawrence Humphrey - Thanks a lot, I was pretty content considering I went straight in with a pen. I'll do my best :)!

29th

Here's today's (21/12/09); a late night one, but a fun change of approach. I'm planning on looking at/studying Schiele's work for a bit, mainly regarding line quality and such, so with book on lap and mirror by my side I aimed for an artist study/SP :).

Due to my travelling home tomorrow for the holidays, I may not be able to update for a while. Will depend on a scanner. Anyway, I will aim to, and will keep up the dailies!

Pouty-pout wide-eyes

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[Yang87]

number 27's awesome. i really like the mood.

keep up the good work!

[*ViRuS*]

your getting better and better... as far as color goes- i thought number 25 was a great use of warm/cool colors. really look for that in life and don't be afraid to push it. keep it up man, your rocking these. =)

[Meaisín]

Yang87 - Thanks a lot, nice to hear.

*ViRuS* - Cheers, I'm happy my intentions with the warm/cool effect looked alright. I do want to pursue this more; I was surprised by what I could get by heavily employing blue/orange pencils. I'll keep searching and pushing :P!

30th - 49th (30thx2, 37thx2)

Here's the update I implied would happen. Didn't get to a scanner over my holiers, so here is the Xmas holiday update! I've kept up the dailies, and enjoyed them! They are still all from life; windows/mirrors/reflections/live webcams/etc. Was great to try a larger mirror/more figure.
Appreciate and look forward to any comments. Cheers!

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[Meaisín]

50th!

Today's
Sorest... back/neck... ever...

...And Stretch!!

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[Herr_Oin]

nice Progress! It inspirates me to improve my skillz...draw and draw and draw...

[Meaisín]

Herr_Oin - Really great to hear dude, thanks! Progress is addicting ^_^. Wise words... I'm the same... must draw more :)!

51st!

Finally decided to try digital painting... WOO! Was a bit daunted before, but also so excited to try my tablet for the first time, and as usual it's that fear barrier that just has to be smashed through and you just got to go for it!

It's quite... grey, and really messy. But I thought I would just try one level of zoom/one brush/black and white to start small and get practicing on some tonal work. Anyway... bed soon!

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[Meaisín]

52nd

Second try - Feels great to practice this! Even though I'm probably still pretty awkward, I can feel the workflow/comfort increasing slightly already.

Found it quite hard to get a lighting set up tonight and what I ended up with might have been a bit tonally flat.
Messed with the nose a lot... the under sketch could have been more careful.
So tired tonight could barely keep my eyes open - heh, and I can see it in the SP :P

Anyway, enough naysaying; great fun, I look forward to more!
Cheers all!

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[Meaisín]

53rd.

Today's. Another very late one.
Went on a bit longer than I thought, but time just disappeared - it became pretty intense as I accelerated to finish and got into the flow of the hair.

Lips had errors, eyes, lines a bit off, clumsy with layers... but still experimenting! I see mistakes of course, but, more more more...! :D

Great stuff!

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[no87]

loads of great stuff man! awesome to see you starting digital too! keep it up :D

[Meaisín]

no87 - Thanks again for the kind words. Yeah, the start in digital is really exciting. It's a shame I didn't get a chance to practice today actually, but I'm really looking forward to going back to it, which is great. Will do my best :)!

54th

Back to big sketchbook for this one; wanted to sit and chill with friends and took the opportunity to do this. Camera for upload I'm afraid, no access to A3 scanner at the time. A toughy. (Changing) Angle of head/persp./bent back due to bar over window obstructing any view above :S.
Was kind of happy with tying down the head though - it went through some seriously bad first attempts :). Hand/arm/back all look so wrong now.
Ah well, no sweat, there's always [the sooner the better] next time!

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[Meaisín]

55th

A little different...
I wish I could get further with these in less time, but I guess that's the learning. I think I got impatient with this one and sidetracked/[confused :/] by the inclusion of colour - began to experiment and not really know what I was aiming for. Also didn't want to spend a long time trying to tightly replicate the shading on the skin, so it's done speedily in places. Ah well, nice to see something different and I think the lines are ok.
I appreciate any advice. Cheers!

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[Meaisín]

56th

I clearly deserved it...

Ridiculous pose - as I sketched I probably forgot to emote, so the rest of my face is flat and reactionless... as if I take punches and just keep looking straight into mirrors ¬_¬. Should have morphed my arm more... so I didn't look like I'm crazy and just punching myself. Ah well, I can always say I was reprimanding myself for not drawing more :P. This reminds me of the 'SF20' book cover now... only... not action packed... or awesome.

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[Meaisín]

57th

Great music, pen in mouth, squinty eye... good stuff :)

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[danlucas]

nice, these portraits are really coming along. I see your improvement over just these portraits. And I like the new fresh ideas coming from each one. Keep at it. Check my sp if you can. Pce

[Meaisín]

danlucas - Thanks for stopping by, I'm happy to hear that. I'll take a look.

58th

A3 book today, so tried to take a photo in acceptable conditions. Wasn't happy with this one. Too long again for something that once again seems flat and proportionally incorrect. That was a serious bout of numbness in my hand :/

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[Meaisín]

59th

Quickish one with tilted head... and flames... sort of

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[hitnrun]

your self portraits aren't bad to begin with. Looks like they just need more development. Put some good lighting on yourself, and maybe take a photo of it. Or just use a mirror. Maybe study the skull and the muscles on it because this looks eyeballed (well eyeballed, but no firm understanding of the underlying structures of the skull/muscles.) That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, it can help train your eye to spot differences in referenced work.

[Meaisín]

hitnrun - Thank you for your comment. Lighting can be tough sometimes in my current setup, but most of the time I aim to put some interesting lighting to good use. I'll try to get some more 'proper' setups. I'm going by my reaction to life/mirrors/other reflections for now, but you're right, some photographs from angles I don't normally see could be very informative/useful. Thanks for the balanced comment on the eyeballedness :P - I can see where you're coming from - it is the effect that probably makes my drawings seem so 'flat' sometimes. I took your comment to heart and tried to better my understanding of some anatomy. More studies like this should follow.

60th - 61st

Yesterday's and earlier today's - Some useful learning and a sketch while watching a film with friends - wasn't happy - I didn't seem to actually be capturing much 'feeling'. It's just lines, with not great proportions at that... Ah well... The film was good craic :)

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[Meaisín]

62nd

The same window as 27. It's like widescreen... only... upwards :S

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[danlucas]

Interesting sp pen sketch. I do kind of like the feel of it.

[Meaisín]

danlucas - Thanks :)

63rd - 76th

Big catching-up update here. Neglected the thread for a while not making the time to upload, but I've still been DailySPing, and I've amended that now :). Last 14 SPs here. Trying out some great old marker pens I've barely even used, a bit of anime influence :P, trying painting for the first time [great fun!], and now studying my features, among others.

Cheers, all the best

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[*ViRuS*]

you're getting better =)

[no87]

great stuff as always man! wana see more :D

[amianna]

I really love your portraits with the copic markers, so much personality. You're getting really good! Keep up the awesome work :)

[Fiori]

Please keep us updated with your latest progress I saw alot of good improved in your last batch. My favs so far are the space cowboy dude and the fine liner piece :)

[Meaisín]

*ViRuS* - Thanks man :)
no87 - Many thanks, you should get to see plenty as I bring the thread back up to date :)
amianna - Means a lot, thank you
Fiori - Cheers! Comments like that really help me stay on track

77th-97th

Have no fear, still keeping this up :)! I just haven't made time to update in a while, so there's a bit of catching up to do. I think I'll upload the previous SPs in a couple of batches so that it doesn't take forever, and hopefully doesn't wreck people's computers.
Up to 110 atm, I think there are some real howlers here, but still, mixed techniques/media, striving for improvement! Hello to all and thanks for any feedback, I'm still going! ^_^

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[DI888]

Pretty sweet progress in here man. And I'm liking the way you manage to keep the variety going with each one you do. Keep it up!

[Temperowka]

Wow O_O! You really working your ass off with those SP. I'm impressed how inventive you are with them.The cyborg (is that you as robocop?)or the vampire/monsters heh very creative indeed. I can see you are improving. I really like you photoshop sp and the one in watercolours. The one in chalk on black paper blew me away! Keep them coming!
Inspiring!

[Temperowka]

OMG! I stuck on page one. Didn't realise there was another one .... Hey! That's bloody awesome man. Really nice pencil work especially the eyes studies... Such an improvement WOW! You getting the resemblance now pretty well. Truly impressed.

[Fiori]

nice to see the new batch, a real good variety of pieces here. 1 piece of advice though, when you draw eyes try not to make the outline too dark, especially at the bottom as they become too cartoon like and detached from the head. Also I love the text you put on some of them, its so funny and is what I say half the time :P

[Meaisín]

DI888 - Cheers man :]
Temperowka - Thanks for those comments buddy, I appreciate it. They have kept me going so far :)
Fiori - Thanks Fiori, good to hear you let your head spill onto the page as well. That's great advice. I hope over my next uploads I really put that into action!

98th - 115th

I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I'm still going :]

I'm up to 267 atm and am on Summer break from Uni - have finally found/made some time to update, and I'm eager to get back on track here! Thanks for looking, much to come!

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[Meaisín]

116th - 130th

Hmmm... going through some of this stuff is pretty painful. Ah well, I stuck at it.

More to follow.

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[Meaisín]

131st - 147th

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[Meaisín]

148th - 164th

...4th time I have had to re-upload this after attachments have decided to disappear...

Will upload in staggered batches to save myself raging all over keyboard...

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[Meaisín]

Next 5

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[Meaisín]

... Need... Lunch...

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[Meaisín]

165th - 180th

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - G.B.Shaw

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[Meaisín]

181st - 195th

Spoons, Merfolk, and Double mirror action!

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[UmpaArt]

IT was really interesting looking at all of these. The progression is very evident! Good stuff. Your starting to incorporate volume and proportions well.

[Meaisín]

UmpaArt - Many thanks for your comments, I'm glad to hear it. It is so important that I keep on pushing towards structure/proportion/volume. I am still drawing in a piecemeal fashion sometimes, and this usually ruins the unity of a portrait and makes the features seem 'flat' or obviously incorrect, not matching the face if it is drawn afterwards.

196th - 210th

A few done in a car while on holiday here, plus a couple of 'oldies'...

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[Black Spot]

I like that you are having so much fun with yourself and still improving.

[Meaisín]

Black Spot - Thanks for your support - I can't help my head spilling onto the page sometimes and it's a great feeling when you think of a new theme and get excited about executing it :]

211th - 226th

A few ugly faces and some ninjas... what a summary :p

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[Meaisín]

227th - 241st

Hair still growing...

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[Meaisín]

242nd - 256th

Almost there.

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[Meaisín]

257th - 271st

A sequence and some colour!

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[Meaisín]

272nd - 282nd

Going for a 'bigger is better' mentality.

There we go, I'm back up to date. Still keeping up one a day, mass thread update complete!

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[Meaisín]

283rd - 284th

Starkly contrasting morning light and crazy [proportionally incorrect, far too wide?] self.

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[Meaisín]

285th - 287th

Un, deux, trois.

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[Meaisín]

288th - 291st

Four of a Kind.

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[Meaisín]

292nd - 298th

Another week, another lucky 7...

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[Meaisín]

299th - 305th

Lucky number 7. A few experimental attempts in here as well as a disappearing sketchbook - good fun!

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[a la bapsi]

my favorites on this page are 261, 288, and 294. Keep it up~

[Black Spot]

You're getting a lot more consistent. Keep it up.

[Meaisín]

a la bapsi - Thanks a lot for looking :]
Black Spot - Thanks for the support, I think drawing larger has really helped.

306th - 313th

8 more! Into my new house down in Bournemouth now, eager and excited to start my second year! Hoping for that to be reflected here.

BR

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[Meaisín]

314th - 322nd

'The OK, the Bad and the Ugly'

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[Meaisín]

323rd - 328th

"You never know... The problem might be the theme... self portraits. I think it's time you got out there, and maybe found someone else to draw..."

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[Meaisín]

329th - 336th

Captain Dodgy McSkewed Face *Salute*... :/

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[Meaisín]

337th - 350th

Man it hurts when CA uploading crashes...

Anyway... more, more! Almost there...

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[Marian Rowling]

Hey Meaisín really enjoyed looking at you. You're doing a brilliant job especially of coming up with different poses and styles. I really look forward to seeing the next ones. Very inspirational! :)

[Meaisín]

Marian Rowling - Thanks a lot for the kind words. Your comments are flattering and inspirational too :]

351st - 361st

Eleven towards a countdown...

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Hmm... It would appear that my scanner and resizing images is not best friends with this fine grain-heavyweight paper... please excuse the 'extragrain' :/

[Meaisín]

362nd

'Thr"eee"!'

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[Meaisín]

363rd

'Tw"ooo"!'

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[Meaisín]

364th

'"Wuuuh"ne!'

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[Meaisín]

365th!

It is done... Happy Birthday My Face... I wished for better drawing skills...

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I have completed a self portrait from live reflections every day for the last year. 365 days of hair growth, different mediums, themes, good times, bad bad times, and a lot of learning. My desire and inspiration has been to improve, and has come from seeing all of the work around me, the work from other sources such as ConceptArt, my friends and family and the people around here who said nice things to encourage me onwards.

It has indeed been a year of reflections, and I think I leave this exercise for now with an excitement to try other things. I do not stop doing these self portraits to stagnate, but to try and use my time to improve dramatically in other areas! I need to pursue an unquantifiable list of art mediums, topics, work, studies... and I'm eager.

I was recently successful in applying for an exchange to the Parisian art school ESAG for Jan-March next year, and I want to be awesome before, during, and especially afterwards :]

The drawing is about 'doing it'... and keeping on doing it... to keep enjoying it, keep challenging yourself, be realistic and aim for the best. And I've got to do more! Hopefully I'll be back here now and again to test myself and make sure I'm improving while pursuing other goals. I definately think my imagination needs a test and some room to breathe!

I've gone on a bit, but, good luck all! Thanks, watch [me fill] this space...

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[Aquanoctis]

Hey, Congrats! It's interesting seeing how far you came in only a year. There's a lot of really cool, and well-thought out pieces in there. It's very inspiring!
I started a year a self-portraits 13 days ago actually and someone said you'd just finished a year, so I thought I'd take a look =] (I'm first year animation by the way)

[jeremygordon89]

It's amazing to see what progress you've made after 365, it's really good! I'm also trying to reach 365 (only at 28 so far), so this is great motivation. Keep up the great work man, it's definitely paying off! Your line quality and consistency really improved leaps and bounds already

[Meaisín]

Aquanoctis - Thanks buddy. It's great to hear it's inspirational, good job starting the exercise. Hope you're enjoying the course so far. I'll see you in the studio, it would be nice to see your self portraits :]

jeremygordon89 - Cheers for the feedback. I'm glad to hear it's motivational, those comments of improvement really push me on!

[Tesla]

Awesome work here!!

[Meaisín]

Tesla - Thanks :]

Hope you enjoy...

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[Marian Rowling]

That's great Francis you can really see how much you've improved over the year. Well done. :)