Get Ready for #Selfietember!!
Aw yeah: 30 days of self-portraits starts next week.
Friends, we are mere days away from the start of a drawing challenge that will have you seeing yourself differently, creatively, admiringly, and daily! Yes, the rumors are true: It’s almost #Selfietember.
What the Heck is #Selfietember??
As always, SO glad you asked! #Selfietember is a drawing challenge I started a few years ago. Throughout the month of September, we draw that most available of models, that most willing of subjects, and one of the most interesting people we will ever immortalize on paper: ourselves. Yes, we’re talking about 30 glorious days of self-portraits!!
Why Do #Selfietember?
Why would you not? Hello, any chance to draw! But here are some excellent extra reasons to dive face-first into this challenge:
A month of never saying “I don’t know what to draw”—yeah you do!!
You can fill a sketchbook (or part of one) easily
You will amaze yourself by how different you’ll look each day
You’ll reduce the time you spend on social media and doom scrolling
Another Totally Excellent Reason to Do #Selfietember
Now, some of you may be saying, “I don’t wanna look at myself all month. I don’t like this or that about my face.” My darling(s), that is one of the best and most important reasons to join the #Selfietember drawing challenge.
Drawing changes the way you look at things, and the way you see them. Before drawing, you might look at people and put some spot assessment like “beautiful,” “stringy,” or some other label on them, if you noticed them at all. When you start to draw, you see people, and everyone is suddenly unbelievably interesting: that nose! That hunched-over-the-phone posture! Those awe-inspiring wrinkles! Everyone is your model, and everyone is suddenly beautiful. Not standard-Barbie-or-Ken beautiful, and certainly not what AI thinks is beautiful; I’m talking artistically beautiful. That’s real beauty.
Interesting side-but-related note: Whenever I try to draw someone who is conventionally beautiful, I get a blah portrait. Just bo-ring. When I draw someone with good age on them, or character—there’s a story on their face—I get an amazing portrait, one that thrills me to my gizzards.
The same is true for us. I’m watching my face change as I age, and because I draw myself frequently (see above re: willing, available model), I’m not getting all freaked out about the changes. It’s just all interesting to draw.
It’s happened for me, and for others who’ve participated in #Selfietember: a couple of days in, you’ll start seeing your own lovely mug as an endlessly interesting subject to draw. And every one of your self-portraits will look different. How cool is that??
Your #Selfietember Supply List
It’s short, sweet, and to the sharpened pencil point. All you need is:
A sketchbook, your favorite digital drawing app, or both
Some art supplies—your choice of pens, pencils, watercolors, gouache, etc., or just one of those
A mirror
Your phone camera
That is IT. Oh wait, one more thing:
The Official #Selfietember prompts that are coming your way on August 31—but only if you’re subscribed!
Get your #Selfietember supplies ready, and I’ll see you and your glorious visage sooooooon…
Well... this sounds like a challenge... Intrigued.
This is so fun!