Self Portraits

Spidey-Chaz, Chaz Howkins, 2016, fine liner

Dot Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2016, fine liner and markers

Fisherman Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2016, fine liner

Formal Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2016, fine liner and oil pastel

Digital Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2016, fine liner

A series of self portraits, all of which took under 2 minutes to complete.  I wanted the portraits to be fairly minimalistic so only introduced colour when I felt it was absolutely necessary.  These drawings are taken from a series in which I explored my own vanity and narcissism.

Reverting The Mind To A Childlike State

I Love Painting, Chaz Howkins, 2015, acrylic on board

I decided to dedicate a day to having a childlike mindset and filled an entire sketchbook with drawings and documentations of my thoughts, which led to the realisation that children don't try to create wonderful outcomes, but rather they enjoy the experience of painting.  I realised this while mesmerised by the colours and patterns of my painting - ignoring the fact that I hadn't primed the board and the outcome really isn't anything special, I just really enjoyed creating this painting. 

Reverting The Mind To A Childlike State

Selfie Of Colours, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

Calming My Imagination Snake, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

I decided that I spent too long on the first of these two self portraits so tried to be more spontaneous with the second.  The drawing resulted in mainly scribbling as I was focusing on enjoying the act of drawing rather than creating an accurate self portrait of just my face.

Reverting The Mind To A Childlike State

Shroom Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

Abdul, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

I wanted to expand on my quick sketches while still in a childlike mindset, so created these A3 portraits of myself and a friend in oil pastels.  I find these portraits interesting as I usually struggle with the use of colour in my work, but decided to use colour to represent movement and depth.  I stopped trying to be completely representational and decided to focus more on the experience of drawing.  I used oil pastels as they allowed me to change colours more easily than when using paint and the resulting outcome looked like a child using crayons.