How to create an inspiring self portrait

Take a selfie. I'm looking up because my drawing is going to be about me considering my gifts. Print out a copy 5 x 7 inches

Flip your printed image over and cover it with graphite using a pencil. This way you don't need transfer paper.

Tape your image to the paper and start tracing your face using a colored ball point pen. Feel free to leave out the wrinkles and dark circles!

I used a continuous line drawing and exaggerated some things like my eyelashes.

Voila! The image is transferred to the paper.

On a scrap piece of paper create a list of adjectives to describe you. I made an ABC list - when I got stuck I searched on the internet for inspiration.

Using a pencil I began to write these words as tendrils of my hair. I connected several words and created loops to dot and cross.

My tendrils fill the page.

Using a black permanent pen I went over all of the pencil lines adding some swirls and lines. Erase your pencil lines.

Add some color using watercolors, pencils or pens. Don't worry about realism - just enjoy the process. Because my hair looked like it was growing I added some leaf and flower shapes.

I went back over some of the shapes to define them.

My inspired portrait. I'm not quite finished but it gives me something to doodle on another day.