A friend invited me to create 50 portraits in 10 days. I didn’t finish this in 10 days, but I completed it! With every challenge whenever applicable, I always start with a self portrait. The rest of the portraits I’ve drawn are from officemates, and the rest I referenced from Pinterest.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362041/2011-11-2020-portraits-1/2011-11-2020-portraits-1.jpg?_i=AA 960w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362041/2011-11-2020-portraits-1/2011-11-2020-portraits-1.jpg?_i=AA 300w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362041/2011-11-2020-portraits-1/2011-11-2020-portraits-1.jpg?_i=AA 768w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362041/2011-11-2020-portraits-1/2011-11-2020-portraits-1.jpg?_i=AA 691w)
The only watercolor portraits: Myself, my officemate’s babies, and our Managing Director.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362038/2011-11-2020-portraits-2/2011-11-2020-portraits-2.jpg?_i=AA 960w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362038/2011-11-2020-portraits-2/2011-11-2020-portraits-2.jpg?_i=AA 300w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362038/2011-11-2020-portraits-2/2011-11-2020-portraits-2.jpg?_i=AA 768w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362038/2011-11-2020-portraits-2/2011-11-2020-portraits-2.jpg?_i=AA 691w)
The middle sketch made me realize that I wanted to draw hair. ♥
Left: Yes to more hair | Middle: I was experimenting with the head sizes for this one. Should I make multiple portrait sketches in one page? Should I combine them? The good thing with having one portrait in one page is that I could detail it some more. For the multiple portraits, not so much. But I could generally practice getting the proportions right. | Right: Really loved the bottom sketch!
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362033/2011-11-2020-portraits-4/2011-11-2020-portraits-4.jpg?_i=AA 960w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362033/2011-11-2020-portraits-4/2011-11-2020-portraits-4.jpg?_i=AA 300w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362033/2011-11-2020-portraits-4/2011-11-2020-portraits-4.jpg?_i=AA 768w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362033/2011-11-2020-portraits-4/2011-11-2020-portraits-4.jpg?_i=AA 691w)
Left: Raina Hein ♥
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362030/2011-11-2020-portraits-5/2011-11-2020-portraits-5.jpg?_i=AA 960w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362030/2011-11-2020-portraits-5/2011-11-2020-portraits-5.jpg?_i=AA 300w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362030/2011-11-2020-portraits-5/2011-11-2020-portraits-5.jpg?_i=AA 768w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362030/2011-11-2020-portraits-5/2011-11-2020-portraits-5.jpg?_i=AA 691w)
Experimenting with hair hatches ♥
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362027/2011-11-2020-portraits-6/2011-11-2020-portraits-6.jpg?_i=AA 960w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362027/2011-11-2020-portraits-6/2011-11-2020-portraits-6.jpg?_i=AA 300w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362027/2011-11-2020-portraits-6/2011-11-2020-portraits-6.jpg?_i=AA 768w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362027/2011-11-2020-portraits-6/2011-11-2020-portraits-6.jpg?_i=AA 691w)
Gushing over the hair details
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362024/2011-11-2020-portraits-7/2011-11-2020-portraits-7.jpg?_i=AA 960w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362024/2011-11-2020-portraits-7/2011-11-2020-portraits-7.jpg?_i=AA 300w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362024/2011-11-2020-portraits-7/2011-11-2020-portraits-7.jpg?_i=AA 768w, https://res.cloudinary.com/suffrie/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1636362024/2011-11-2020-portraits-7/2011-11-2020-portraits-7.jpg?_i=AA 691w)
Around this time, I ran out of mechanical pencil refills so I had to use normal pencils. It felt weird since I was so used to the line consistency of mechanical pencils.
I’ve learned a lot of things during this challenge: I rarely use my eraser (need to fix this), I still love sketching hair and making hatches, proportions are hard, fundamentals are important, and the only way to improve is to keep on drawing. ♥ 50 portraits is not enough to master this, but it was a nice change of pace!