Five-minute self portrait:

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Let's see yours.

here you go.. bed hair and all. A little more time..7 minutes..do we get another chance? ..lol

That's great as it is!

A comic artist I like (Aaron Diaz) posted something like this on Facebook last night, and I thought the "RIGHT NOW" part was fun, so I tried to do the fastest portrait I could do that would still be (sort of) recognizable.

Great images that shows just how much detail can be captured in five minutes Ernest.

Here's my version, sticking to the five minute rule. No mirror at work so I did this looking into a web cam.

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Really lovely! Is that using liquified graphite?

Thanks Ernest.. yes ..Liquid Pencil in the #9 Grey

very nice quick portrait Jeanette! I barely got the outline in my 7, I admire how fast you draw and shade Ernest..thank you for your compliment.. and I do have to try that medium Carol, it makes a lovely selfportrait

Hello! This is very good chance to introduce myself as I'm new in here. I work the fastest with aquarelles. It took about 10 min to get it done.

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Welcome! You have a lot of great texture here; no flat boring areas.

Thank you!

I'm afraid I don't have the confidence to draw one of myself yet, let alone post it here.
In fact, I have yet to attempt a portrait for the very first time (at least since I started drawing seriously).

Hair and noses scare the **** out of me. Good thing I have Brenda's lessons!

Here I am ...in 20 min .. I am not a speed drawer lol ...my mouth is all wrong lol ...I shouldnt have smiled lol

probably the first challenge I do lol I took exactly 5 minutes now I just have to scan it if it works.

As soon as my scanner works i'll post it because I just tried restarting my computer and it still doesn't want to work. It's always when I need it it does that.

I think it's great!

This is fun exercise. Now I think I want to hire somebody to follow me around and occasionally say "DRAW A CHICKEN, NOW!"

just good quick sketch practice. Thanks Ernest for suggesting this.I don't consider it fun(playful) but helpful and take it seriously as I want to try several times until I get the best face possible that is best likeness.

Elena art can be fun ..it it were not then many would have given up long ago .. lighten up the challenge was to just draw it ! lol now lol dont think lol do it !! lol not do it until you get it right .

This was great E

wonder if amazon delivers chickens..

Well now I'm embarrassed.. If I had got my brain on course I would have realized it was a speed thing .. I would not have ever posted it ..

I was able to make my scanner work finally! So here's my 5 minute sketched I had my timer beside me and made sure I didn't pass the time lol

I dont think it was like all about speed but I think he ment just draw yourself now ...your was great and 45 min is still very fast for a portrait ...you did fine .

Dolphin your drawing really does look like you .. you have those big eyes ..very pretty face. you and your boyfriend are what i call eye candy lol two really good looking people .....with a great personality

Thank you

OK. Here's me! About a minute and a half!


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Now that's fast!

yes, it is. That was my idea about not having fun with this. It can be very useful to capture traits in let's say 10-15 minutes. Otherwise it turns into caricature which can be fun but not teaching much and developing skill.

I think it is a great job steve ..you did alot in such a short time .

I've said before that I am not good at portraits.I did try this as a serious attempt. The result was dreadful and frustrating. And wholly unenjoyable for me. So I decided to try again, but in a more fun, loose and free approach! This is the result! I enjoyed it, it looks more like me than my previous attempt, and it was fun to do. When the day comes that I don't think drawing/painting is fun, that's the day I give it up. Life's too short for all this seriousness!

nice job Steve for such a short time

I try drawing myself all the time but without mirror or picture,
so you guessed it !...many times it is a complete stranger!

On the odd occasion I would have a picture infront of me
and try my best. I have never been satisfied with the result
amd I wonder if ever I will.

This is one of me in the 'fun days' of hair styles.
I still laugh when I look at the few pics I have of those days.

I hope the upload works as I have not done this in such a long time.

Carl

The concept of having a limited time to create a drawing is that it forces you to analyse shapes and lines and put down basic information on paper quickly. This is a classic drawing warm up exercise where we had 30 second (yes!) and then increments of 30 seconds up to 5 and 10 minute time frames to get gesture lines on paper that represented the model. Yes, it is challenging, but try it. It helps eye/hand coordination and really assist you in removing all the unnecessary information in front of you and concentrate on what is important.

I may be wrong, and Ernest can correct me here, but I believe that is the purpose of the thread. Its not about completed or realistic self portraits. We can all do that if we have enough time. Its about getting as much information as you can down in five minutes.

So to those who spent more than five minutes on their portrait, I'd say go back and try it again with the 5 minute time restriction, keeping in mind what you're looking for. Not perfection but the lines that represent you.

Indeed. I tried it and was surprised by the image I produced, so I wanted other folks to have the same experience.

I fully understand the concept ,but it is not in my being to to do a fast self portrait and think it's anything but a rough sketch... I suppose in the initial drawings as we all know, we start out with a rough sketch and it looks like a 2 year old drew it ,I believe for most it is that way in order to get the basic idea on paper..at least it is with me.. Understood..I see beyond it and cannot wait til it is finished .. I guess what I am trying to say is .. if in your minds eye you have the picture then however you reach the final image is your own.. be it personal or school taught..how one achieves the image in the thought process is the Artistic and the process of transferring it to paper or canvas or what ever it lays on is the Art..
I could do a fast drawing of a Chicken right now but all it is ,is a fast drawing waiting to come to life.. exactly what you are saying getting past the unnecessary information.. a rough sketch..

+++++++++++++++++++++

I share your opinion.

Teachers like to talk and repeat about 'loosening the fingers and wrist' as if that is all there is to drawing.
The 'limbering' up is fine when that is what you want to do, but to say do a drawing in 5 or less minutes,
is for the pros as they sit in court or at a conference and they hastily do their thing for later refinement.
Note for later refinement for that is what they do!
I have seen them in action and don't envy their frenzy.

Anyone could hastily sketch anything and you don't need teacher's repetitions on this.

You said it perfectly "I fully understand the concept, but it is not in my being to to do a fast self portrait
and think it's anything but a rough sketch".

It is what it is ...a rough sketch and not a self-protrait!

Touche.

I never thought about the court artists and how about the War artists ?.. They captured the very essence of destruction and the action of gun fire and movement .. Had to be a lot of images they had to keep in their minds.. I admire that a lot..
Thanks for your you input..very very interesting.. Carol

The point here is eye-hand coordination education. These quick exercises are common in teaching and learning in studio art.
But My opinion is for us people who are self educated in drawing and try rendering feAtures in order not to loose confidence is to have at least a 10 minutes time to think that portrait. What Jeanette calls analyzing is not possible for anyone in 1 minute.If it is not part of a series of similar attempts.Even when your mind is capable of analyzing an untrained hand will not render that with confidence and accuracy in seconds. After a couple of years of drawing you can move quickly and do some art in fast sketches of minutes, seconds. But not as a beginner and not without supervision from a professional.
Even fun and enjoyment stay with the experienced artists. You have the ease when you know what you are doing and you can enjoy playing with shape and pencils. When you are struggling to put the pencil on paper for the first time and get those shapes right you need to concentrate. Fun and play are the opposite of concentration, are the suspension of rules. If you look at all great masters they broke the rules and revolutionized art only after a period of obeying rules and serious understanding of form and color.Art is not science but it has its rigor when it comes to anatomy and light issues.
I did my sketch in 12 minutes and if I have done this in 5 I would have ommitted the values which is ok by me but then you end up with a contour drawing. I want to be able to go beyond contour in 5 minutes. So if i repeat this exercise means that I will concentrate more and be more focused and precise. Which is the opposite of fun = loose and aloof.
The fun is loving to do art and take the pain of exercising and challenging yourself and still enjoying that drill and not dreading it.

I have a 2 minutes drawing video from my era before Drawspace an indian girl done from imagination.
It's that contour sketching that i want to leave behind and move towards value sketch in 5 minutes.

Elena I was not by any means trying to make things difficult or debating.. All I was saying was ...

I understand this Fun Concept in developing Eye-Hand coordination and the Drill and all that makes sense in a series of 5 minutes and another 5 minutes and so on ..I get it .. Now

When I first opened this thread and Ernest asked us to draw a self portrait ( didn't quiet understand the Right Now thing).. I was Not expecting this as a Drill.. Or Fun.. but a Challenge to do a portrait and that was that ..thinking that not many do self portraits and that was an attempt to challenge us..Self Portraits are strange to do.. for it is you and the mind has to view it as value and placement and making it come to life..it is sometimes hard for us to see us ..

Then as this thread developed it opened up a different understanding to me ,,unlike the beginning of it..

Thanks to you and Jeanette for giving the real reasons why it was done..Had I known early on I would have refrained..

I know this thread will be helpful to a lot of us .. and I thank you.. Carol

Carol, there is no debate here, is how i see things and how you see them.
Did i say something referring to your drawing? It's up to you to take your time, and the rule of 5 minutes is not fixed.
It was just a suggestion from Ernest. The Right now part was meant to be fun-oriented.At least this is how I took it. And you have a point of having the liberty of doing a decent self portrait in the time you find suitable for it.

I think the 'right now' thingy meant to pick up a pencil and draw a self portrait. I don't think Ernest mentioned to do a portrait in 5 minutes! I just assumed he did his portrait in 5 minutes! I sat and tried to do a self portrait. I concentrated and probably spent at least 10 -15 minutes doing so. I wouldn't even bother to post the result! So I did a very quick line drawing of me! Simple. It took just a minute or so. Looks more like me than the first attempt! I fail to see what the problem is here? There appears to be a debate opening up where none is needed or required! I want to enjoy what I do, not work at it slavishly I don't want this to be a job or a chore, I want to enjoy some freedom of expression. Look back at Ernests original post. It took him 5 minutes to produce his portrait. He didn't lay down any ground rules! Just suggested that we do a self portrait. Right now! A good exercise I think!

Good Grief .. Maybe I used the wrong word .. debate is not what I meant .. And for the life of me I can't think of anything that would be correct except .. Dang I was confused !!

I'll go scribble and take a chill pill.. >>>>>>>>>>>>>

You guys are funny! No one blames Steve for doing this for fun or Carol for being serious about it. We just look at how this can be done from different angles.
How students do it in life art studio classes, how artists do it.
I find to be useful insight into other people's way of doing and conceptualizing their art. Someone here mentioned the court artists. Also those art school graduates or students who do portraits in the street in about 25 minutes. In Prague, which is among other things a capital of arts, you can see young artists on Charles bridge working with amazing strokes and technique to complete a sketch of a face in minutes.That is definitely practice but also talent in portraiture.

By the way i just had a book with artists self portraits about 70 major masters with their self portrait done in different media. Really enjoyed the styles.You can find it on my blog archive.
the artist by himself

I've just re-read my last post and it looks like I'm sounding pithy. I'm not! Honest..! The written word eh? Maybe I should have chucked in a few smilies! It's good that we are discussing the merits of how we do things. Elena keeps distinguishing between 'Students and Artists' I suspect this comes from her being a teacher. I see no distinction there. Anybody who creates art is an artist. There are those that have mastered their chosen art, and use it in a proffessional capacity. There are those that wish to learn more about their art, and seek advice and guidance from proffessionals. Then there are those that plod along happy in their ignorance until they make their own discoveries! I would put myself firmly in the latter group! I am not a good student. I was thrown out of school just after my 15th birthday. Mainly due to my poor attendance record! Not because I didn't want to learn, but because the teachers were unable to teach me! Most things I know, I have taught myself. Because I wanted to learn those particular things. I think this idea of doing an inpromptu portrait was a great idea! We all approach things in different ways! Carol, I think your portrait is by far the most accomplished. The fact that you took more time than anybody else is neither here nor there! It's a great portrait! Elena, the fact I did a caricature of myself is also not important! It's just how I chose to do this simple challenge! There were no rules laid down, just 'do it now!' And I think we all did that, with some interesting results!

Who's round is it?

Guess I should not have taken my portrait off this thread but who really cares..
Funny since our "he said, she said" ,,the portraits stopped coming in .. Sorry Ernest .. I think I messed this up for you..Come on guys forget frivolous yammering and get back in here and draw a portrait of yourself .. you will find it's not so scary.. 5 minutes or 45 minutes .

Steve ,,you rebel you... not going by the book and venturing out there and discovering what makes Steve who Steve is.. be it through Art or Song .. That's exciting .. If we all did it the proper way ( whatever that is ) then we would all be a group of just one instead of many..
The topic certainly has been one of peeking the curiosity of what is available to learn.. This old dog still is... that's why I come here.

Okay I'll make a sign and march up and down this thread that says .. Make A Self Portrait ( or a Chicken ).. Right Now.!!!

Cluck!

here ya go Ernest .. Draw a Chicken Right Now..
2 minutes .. Including the thought process..

Steve put a chicken with that cluck..right Now !!
Added a 4 minute me verses that 45 minute one..

Ya look gorgeous.

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This took 15 minutes.


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I love this chicken challenge. I made mine. Under 1 min. I think, he just got out from egg.

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Anyway, I'm going to do this 5 min portrait, because of curiosity.

Steve We just keep gettin' better !! Love your Chicken .. Colonel Sanders would be Proud !!! Well now I'm hungry

sipsik great Lil' Chick . waiting to see the 5 minute portrait.. !!

I promised to try 5 min self-portrait. Didn't come out so well. Anyway, here it is. And no, my other half of head is not blond, time was up to finish it.

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