100 days, 100 portraits

100 days, 100 portraits

100 portraits of people I found on TikTok, drawn one a day for 100 days.

Portrait of @emrata drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 61 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 61
@emrata

Portrait of @aaashleyk drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 80 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 80
@aaashleyk

Portrait of @annaredhair__ drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 53 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 53
@annaredhair__

Portrait of @lapatrona7676 drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 94 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 94
@lapatrona7676

Portrait of @chiefuskweefus drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 98 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 98
@chiefuskweefus

Portrait of @jaredraygilmore drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 99 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 99
@jaredraygilmore

Portrait of @heydevank drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 66 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 66
@heydevank

Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva, day 92 of the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge

day 92

See all portraits

the project

During Covid I created an account on TikTok. To my great surprise, it wasn’t full of dancing girls, as I’d heard it described. Instead it was full of people from around the world sharing their lives, perspectives and experiences. As a naturally curious person, I found that fascinating. At a time when we couldn’t see people in real life, those TikTok creators quickly became my community. And just like with the people around me in real life, I started to notice something unique and beautiful in each of them, and I felt an urge to draw them.

There were so many people I wanted to draw that the project started to take shape in my head as a 100 day drawing challenge.

The series is drawn in a strong vertical format, to fit the way the work was shown and viewed on mobile phones through TikTok.

My style of drawing is strongly influenced by my traditional art education. But it’s been interesting to see how my 20 years of creating art for games has brought in a subtle stylization.

I wrote about what I learned from the challenge on my art blog.

process

What are people saying

Aina

“The way you draw is so expressive, I love it!”

H.S. Williams

“Really nice, stylized just enough to feel animated, but still clearly recognizable”

Hazely

“I love seeing how your art has evolved since day 1 of this challenge”

after the challenge

Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge
Portrait drawn by Neli Chaneva after the 100 days, 100 portraits challenge