96 FACES

EXERCISE

CREATIVITY

MAKEUP

A tablet displaying a drawing app with sketches of human faces. Several faces have colorful heatmap overlays around the eyes and cheeks, indicating possible eye-tracking or focus points.

UNLOCK CREATIVE WAYS OF THINKING

You're not uncreative. You're just stuck in your own patterns.

This is THE exercise I use when I've been making the same look on repeat without realising it. It's simple, it's fast, and it's genuinely uncomfortable in the best way.

96 blank facecharts, and only one rule: no two looks can be the same. Draw as many as you can in 15 minutes. Don't think. Don't refine. Don't erase. Just keep going.

The first few come easy, they're the looks you already know. By face 15 you start struggling. By face 30 something shifts. Your brain has run out of the familiar. You're moving too fast to second-guess yourself. And what comes out after that is actually groundbreaking.

That's the point. Volume kills perfectionism. Quantity unlocks quality.

Print and draw by hand or import to Procreate and draw digitally.

This is not a tutorial. This is a training ground for your creativity.

THE PROCESS

  • 1) FILL THE FIRST FACES FAST

    Set a timer and drawing immediately. Don’t wait for a good idea. The first few faces are just there to get your usual instincts out of the way.

  • 2) DON’T REPEAT YOURSELF

    Each face needs to be different from the last. Change the shape, placement, color, intensity, or mood every time. Don’t overthink it, just keep going.

  • 3) KEEP GOING PAST THE OBVIOUS

    The interesting ideas usually appear after the easy ones run out. That’s the point of the exercise: volume first, judgment later.