Practice Sketch

[Steven Sweeney]

A couple of final thoughts, just to avoid ironing shirts for a little while longer.

Perhaps because of the dark scumbled areas in the original sketches posted, I assumed you were using charcoal on a textured paper -- and perhaps you were -- but I think we moved into a graphite medium by the time of completion.

So just a couple of points about graphite. First "point" -- keep the lead sharp (or, if you're using a chisel tip for a wider line, keep that chisel tip well formed).

To eliminate some of the hassle of getting smooth effects on a textured paper, try using Bristol plate paper (heavyweight, super smooth, available at any art outlet) for your graphite drawings, at least for those of a "fine" quality such as the one you've done here. (That said, it is nonetheless quite possible to get very smooth effects on a moderately toothed paper (Canson Mi-Teintes, for example) with charcoal.)

Don't try to get a significantly darker value out of a given lead by pressing harder. Switch to a softer lead for that area -- have a range available, perhaps from 6B to 4H, or wider. Once you press a lead hard into the paper, you'll essentially engrave the paper (or flatten the tooth), which will make it impossible to cleanly move that line later if you need to (if, say, you decide that an ear or eye need to be changed.)

On rare occasion, a small accent of the darkest value can be added to a graphite drawing with a sliver of compressed charcoal.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is curious about what drawing book you received. Many of us are always looking for good instructional reference material.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Great job!

That is so beautiful!

I can see a lot of progress here.

[Mara Schasteen]

For this final sketch, I used Willow charcoal, a kneaded eraser, a blending tool thingie and Bristol brand vellum. I am pleased with how it turned out and when the final sketch is compared to the practice sketch, I am amazed at the difference. Thanks for your help along the way. I am glad I posted this to the forum. I am excited to tackle my next baby potrait, where I plan to use a combination of charcoal and PanPastel.

The technique book I received is "Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil," by J. D. Hillberry. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but his website is www.jdhillberry.com. His technique is flawless, as you will see in the examples on his site.

Thanks, everyone! Especially you, Steven (the only other person working the forum during Christmas ).