100 Days of Portraits
My professor Brett Yasko assigned 100 days of a design process. I decided to draw one person I pass every day.
Below is a sampling of some of my portraits.
About the Process
My Rules
I saw these people in real life. No cheating by googling crowds!
Each person was in the area I was in that day. Some are in DC and Philly.
I used two notebooks and one pen. I gave myself a warm-up notebook, then tried my best to do one final drawing in my 100 Days book. All with a black ink and no color.
No matter if it was a boring day, or I didn’t interact much with the person, I had to write one thing I learned, knew, or noticed about them.
Design, or Drawing?
After I completed all 100 days, I realized I could easily recall each person or where exactly I saw them, just by spending 2-10 minutes on their likeness. I felt much more present in the space around me and in my community. I decided to map out my images and, of course, most were in my neighborhood or on my daily route.
I showed my hairdresser her entry. She looked through and immediately recognized the other business owners and showed it to her co-workers who also gleefully pointed out faces they recognized.
I loved this. What began as a simple drawing activity turned into so much more — the act of having conversations, looking at people and really seeing them — is something I want to keep present in my design practice.
“Data” Visualization
At the end I wondered, how would I place some of my entries on a scale? What scale would that be?
The closer I was with someone, the more stressful the portrait was. Even having a brief conversation, or a friendly chat, increased my anxiety when portrait time came. I attributed this to the care I wanted to put into the portrait — I really wanted to do them justice. I felt like I had succeeded in my three original goals of community presence, improving my portrait skills, and getting out of my comfort zone socially. After reflecting on my past 100 days, I came up with three new goals going forward:
If you’d like to scroll through all portraits, or follow along as I add more, check out my instagram for this project below!