The face a day challenge of 2020 is now officially over!
I wanted to conclude with a final more elaborate drawing as
a final challenge.
This one is a portrait of my friend Jordi Grifell,
a man of many qualities: singer, musician, stage actor and tap dancer
among others.
The reference photo I used had really beautiful lighting, it was
perfect for this exercise. It took me a bit to realise how
important a good sharp reference photo is, and the impact it has in
the quality of my drawing.
I've drawn this one over a couple of days, one
where I concluded a 2H pencil drawing, and a second day
where I experimented with the finish.
I have also used this opportunity to document
the process a little bit, so you can see the steps I went
through.
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I start with a sketch that focuses on the general shapes,
in order to get the proportions right, and the placement
of the features:
Secondly, I use a kneaded eraser to lighten up the general shapes
and start focusing on smaller shapes and details. I use a kneaded
eraser a second time.
At the final drawing stage my concern has become the quality of
the lines, make sure they are fluid and not shaky.
Finally, to experiment on the finish I took a photocopy of the 2H
drawing and used a combination of compressed charcoal and soft
graphite pencil to get much darker blacks: