Visual Identity

How to complete Visual Identity

A self-portrait forces you to actually look at yourself instead of glancing past the mirror. The point isn't flattery or technical perfection but capturing who you are right now, so that years later this becomes a dated snapshot of your face, mood, and style.

1. Pick a medium you can finish: pencil, phone camera, paint, or a digital app like Procreate or Krita.
2. Work from a mirror or a reference photo you take yourself, lit from one side so features have shape.
3. Block in the big shapes first (head, hairline, jaw) before any small details.
4. Add the things that make you you right now: current haircut, glasses, a recurring expression, what you wear.
5. Stop while it still looks like you, sign and date it.

Tips

• Aim for likeness over beauty; fixing a 'flaw' usually kills the resemblance.
• If drawing intimidates you, a single deliberate self-photo with chosen lighting and setting counts.
• Compare against the mirror at arm's length, not nose-to-paper, to catch proportion errors.

What counts as done

You have one finished, dated self-portrait that someone could recognize as you.