2014 Facebook Friends Sketches

My first photo I used from one of my Facebook Friends and the craziness started.. My focus was her hair.

My "second victim". I had a lot of fun with this sketch. My focus was her eyes.

I was at a slump with my artwork. It made me very depressed and my creativity was nowhere left in me or it was buried so deep, I needed it to show itself to me before my darkness took over.
I decided to react in a positive way instead of reacting with no hope or an excuse to be sad.  I decided that I wanted to try something new.  I know how to paint and have done many projects on the canvas, in extremely large formats.  Acrylic painting was my chosen paints for all of my art projects. I also know how to use clay and make sculptures too. I would LOVE to get back into sculpting because I only know the creative side of sculpturing and not the "oven" side (If that is how one describes it??)
I decided that I did not know anything about sketching with colored pencils and doing art on a small scale! I know how to sketch, shadowing, three-dimension type of work, all with black pencils, but I never tried sketching with colored pencils!
I decided this will be my goal for 2014. So, I went out and bought an 11"x14" sketch pad, a few sets of Prismacolor and Derwent pencils.  Oh boy... this is VERY new to me, because I NEVER did any type of art on a small scale! What was I getting myself into.....
Well... I have been SO HAPPY with my decision! Drawing with pencils on a small scale has been very rewarding for me! I cannot put down my pencils and sketch book! Instead of cleaning up my work-area after a few hours at painting on a canvas, I can even take my little sketchbook and pencils to bed with me and draw there!!!  I find myself trying to squeeze in some free time to sketch now!  I love it!
I decided to use my Facebook Friends photos as my learning tool!  What better way to "force my hand" into creating art, by giving a Status Update for over 2230 Facebook Friends to see what I was planning!  I literally viewed thousands of photos so far. What I am looking for in a photo: I want something that would be a challenge, but fun to sketch. I want a lot of color and something unique.  Once I choose "my victim" I will begin my sketch. I have a goal for each photo that will use. Once I meet that goal, my sketch will be complete and then I will post it and tag "my victim".  I will only do photos that I pick and will not do a sketch when someone ask me. I do not like to feel pressured when I do my art and feel if I agreed to sketch someone just because they asked me to, the pressure will take the fun out of it. Once I am finished with my sketch, this is when my Facebook Friend will be able to see my sketch and hopefully will be very surprised! THIS IS THE PART that give me the UTMOST JOY! It makes me SO HAPPY to witness happiness!  I think it is SO COOL to do a random sketch from my Facebook Friends photos from all around the world! Technology is amazing, isn't it!???
Anyways, my first experience ended in a sour note, but made me aware of how some people can be so cruel. Let me explain...
My 'first victim" was this beautiful young lady, Heidi that is the main face of the Zumba company. Heidi has awesomely wild, curly hair to die for! Not only is she beautiful, she has a warm, fun feeling in her pictures and she seems like a real person, who is not stuck on herself. Anyways, I chose a picture of her (Above top photo), that shows action with her hair and scarf. I loved the look and decided I would concentrate on the movement of the hair and scarf. When I completed the sketch, I tagged Heidi on it and she was SO excited and surprised! I went to bed with a BIG smile on my face and so happy that she liked it. 
I woke up to find the person, Jennifer O. that took Heidi's photo upset with me and Heidi!  She was yelling at Heidi on her wall by saying, "...I hate to say it....SHAME on you for violating my copywrite !!!!!! I agree that it is a fabulous image (that she took of Heidi) and I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to duplicate without asking how to pay me before doing so!!!! Heidi ... I love you girl.... But this is wrong and I'm a bit disappointed!...
Jennifer O started posting all over Facebook, by saying....  "...FUMING this morning.......Found someone violating my copywrite first thing when I woke up!!!! Completely disappointed in this person!!!!...You violate my copywrite and I WILL find out eventually..... It's only a mater of time..... Karma's a BITCH!!!"    
My husband was so angry with Jennifer O's bullying, (Because I do not do well with confrontation and he knows how hurt I was from this drama). I thought, "Here I go again, trying to do something positive and look at the outcome....".
After my husband talked to a few lawyers and then he did research on copyright laws AND my sister who is the Dean at a major university who deals with copyright laws all the time, informed me that I am protected under Copyright (correct spelling Jennifer) Section 107 - Fair Use of Copyrighted works.  Since I am using photos as a learning tool and for personal use, I am covered. 
If I had the opportunity to talk with Jennifer O again, I would have said... Years ago when my son was a young teen, we heard that Grant Hill was signing autographs in our city.  While my son was sleeping, I decided to do a quick sketch of Grant Hill using a photo from a basketball card or magazine... (I am not sure which, because it's been over 18 years ago). I woke David up early to tell him that I had a surprise for him and gave him the sketch of Grant Hill.  I told him that he was going to go to school late that day. 
We were the first ones in the long line to meet Grant Hill. I asked him if he would sign my sketch and he thought that I was giving him my sketch!  I told him the sketch was meant for my son and it would mean the world to him if he would autograph the sketch.  Grant Hill autographed the sketch and took a few pictures with my son! He never came after me to sue me or threaten me!  
June 25, 1996 - A sketch I did for my son, that Grant Hill autographed.
After the incident with Jennifer O, I sent out private messages to a few professional photographers on Facebook (that are my Facebook Friends) and told them that their photos were beautiful and don't be surprised if I tagged them on a sketch of one of their photos one day"  Every single one of them wrote back to me and said, "It would be an honor!!!".  Not that my sketches are great or anything, but to know that these pros... who does high fashion published work AND are established photographers, were kind to me and little do they know... if I chose one of their photos, it will be MY honor to sketch THEIR work! Since I am comfortable with the copyright laws, I am comfortable with secretly viewing photos of my Facebook Friends and finding my "next victim"! 
From the looks of Jennifer O's work, website, and outburst, she is probably very new to offering her photography as a service and have the need to protect her work from whom or what, I am not sure, but hopefully she learned from this experience?  It was a learning process for me too. I can comfortably continue with my goal without chaos and hopefully make a few people happy with surprise-tags along the way!

If you would like to follow my journey, this link goes to my 2014 Facebook Friends Sketchbook   If you would like to become a Facebook Friend, here is my link.

Off to my next victim.....I have to find a better word than "victim".......

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