A pencil portrait of EMMA WATSON

Hello again!

This posting is late, sorry about that!

SO, without further delay, here we go ...



Starting with my usual tools, 2B to 8B pencils, kneadable eraser and tortillion.

Using 8B this time to do another black background. Hmmm... there are so many pictures with black backgrounds...










... and the A3 size smooth art cards...

(10 more to go!)










...beloved tissues for blending shading...










... mechanical pencils loaded with 2B, 3B and 4B leads...










The usual start with a rough sketch to position the figure on paper. I used 3B because 2B looks very light on smooth art cards...
















... working on the proportion of the eyes, nose and mouth.




















... get the proportion of the face right!



















... then the proportion of the dress. I wasn't very accurate here...













... the tortillions are excellent for blending small spots like the eyes.










... using tissue to blend the other shadings.















... nice smooth tone from tissue blending.

Smooth paper + tissue blending = photographic tone.













... using a mechanical pencil to draw details on the brow...












... darkening the other parts with 4B to 6B pencils.










... one side of the eyes with make up and the other without... hahaha...













... face nearly done, time to do the hair.






















... this hair took me more than 10 hours to do. OMG...>__<











... I had to draw the hair strand by strand, using the mechanical pencil because the lead remains sharp for a long time.

Cover the other parts of the drawing with paper to protect it from fatal smudging.

















... one side of the hair nearly done...

















... time to work on the clothes...










I'm using just pencils to do the background this time, without any help from markers.

An 8B died for the job... T___T















... lots of 8B needed...














you can see how the black washed out the picture immediately when it's on. No matter how dark I tried to shade it before this, the picture still looked like a fading ghost in the dark.

So I had to blend in the shading with 8B, doing the final touch up to make it merge with the background more naturally.














...and here it is, at long last...

hope it looks good enough!












This one took 18 hours and 55 minutes to complete. I was stuck at the hair for eternity. Now why does it always have to be the hair, WHY???

I thought it was going to finish a lot earlier but time just slipped by without warning...

Anyway. Hope you like it!

A pencil portrait of LEE JUN KI

Greetings again!

There are about a thousand pictures I would like to draw but I do not have the time, speed and skill to do so very quickly. Forgive my tardiness.

I hope to do more than just one drawing this month, so here's the first:

... beginning with my usual tools, kneadable eraser, tortillion and 2B to 6B pencils.

I left out the 8B this time. There was no black background to color and I don't usually use it together with the other B pencils because 8B has a very strange crayon like texture that doesn't quite get along with the others...









... and the smooth art cards. (11 more pieces to go!)













... beloved tissues for blending shading...










... more mechanical pencils. These fellows are loaded with 2B, 3B and 4B leads...











The very beginning, a rough sketch to position the figure on paper.
















Then the proportion of the eyes, nose and mouth. These are important, if they go wrong, the work will be a total waste of time to continue.

















Adjusting the proportion of the face and hair.



















Finishing off the proportion with the clothes.














I'm using less of tortillions these days, I must say.

One day I'll go back to my sketch book and work it out again.

I will not stop exploring all possibilities....












I'm a big fan of tissue blending now. Addicted, kind of...
















Tissue blended shading has that realistic tone from photographs. It really fascinates me...
















For more details, I used a mechanical pencil to fill them in. The tips are sharp enough to work with for a long period of time.











Other darkening was done with usual pencils like 4B, 5B and 6B.
















Time to work on the hair...

















...getting darker...
















Always cover important parts of the drawing with paper while working on other parts to avoid fatal smudging.
















...more details and touch up after the hair is done.












Working on the clothes now. From left to right since I'm right handed.

They say left handed people are more talented and artistic so I guess I don't fit in the category... T___T










Working on the right collar...












Working on the white coat. Very little shading needed since it was supposing to be very white...











Shading in the background.

I used to have problems with background shadings like this one but the smooth art card is a gem for creating even tone.

Amazing, what you use can affect what you create.








...and here's the final work...

I hope to see some improvement in every drawing I do.

There is no black to test it but I hope the tone is strong enough this time...









Well, hope you like this one.

I want to dedicate this to my dear friend Nueng. I wouldn't have known her if it hasn't been for Lee Jun Ki, and I'm so grateful.

This took about 17 hours, spread across another 3 long busy weeks again that really doesn't help to improve my skill. Practice needs to be consistent, not disrupted. I feel very agitated when I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't work faster.

I'll just have to hang on and survive this. There's always retirement to look forward to if I don't die before that.

A pencil portrait of CHARLIZE THERON

Hello there!

Sorry to keep you waiting...v__v

I intended to post this at the end of October but it ended up taking FOREVER to finish. Didn't realize that it was so tough to put in more details... I really need to improve my skill... T___T

Here's how it all started:





My usual tools, pencils 2B to 8B, kneadable eraser and tortillions.













The A3 size smooth art card... (12 more to go!)












Oil based markers for making pitch black backgrounds... (yep, doing another black)










Tissues for smooth blending to the shading.










...and here's Gelly Roll pen with white ink, kinda useful for drawing fine white hair but since this was the first time I used it I was very clumsy...






...introducing, my 0.5mm Mechanical Pencil, with lead refills of 2B, 3B and 4B.

Heheheh...(NO I don't do drugs. I use this for drawing ONLY.)









The rough sketch to position the figure on paper.

















... and then the face proportion.




















... some hair proportion...















... more hair proportion and the dress line...

I was down with a flu during this stage and my concentration was very poor. I started all over and again for 4 times. When I finally finished, it took me 2 hours... T____T















... shading of some smaller areas done with the tortillions.


















The face and bigger area shadings are done with tissues.



















Yep... I love tissue shading... so smooth...













I started the darker shadings with 4B and 6B earlier these days because the smooth art card makes the 2B and 3B 'foundation shading' looks nearly invisible. Didn't want to get lost...










... working on the hair do. Curly blond hair is a killer, as I soon realized... T___T
















... any way, here the picture is 'basically' done but not finished. When I put on the black background, this figure will get washed out and look pale as a fading ghost in a 1000 year old castle...














I bought extra 8B pencils for the job this time. They finish so fast!

Shading the background with a layer of 8B first.








Then cover the 8B with black marker. Note that I left the area closest to the figure uncovered by marker. These places will be filled in plainly with 8B only.

It gave me more flexibility to work with the loose strands of blond hair.









For finer areas I used the sharp tip of the marker to fill in, but never as close as the figure's outline.












Using a tissue, I blended over the 8B and marker shading to make it smoother.

I also used a piece of paper to cover the figure while I work on the shading of other parts in order to protect my drawing and prevent fatal smudging.













To work on the blending of blond hair with black background, use a kneadable eraser carefully.

(This is a new piece I just cut out from the box. The old one dropped and rolled some where I couldn't find...)











For more detailed strands of blond hair, use a Gelly Roll pen. I couldn't get the fine tip one so this was rather clumsy and lots of touch up was required.

I blended over the white ink with tissue after it dried to make it look more natural as the white ink tends to look too brightly white.













... glad to see one side of the hair nearly done...

It took hours and hours... T___T








For the fine lines on the blond hair, I used mechanical pencils with 2B and 4B leads.

The tip remains sharp for mechanical pencils and can be so useful for drawing fine lines over a long period of time without the need to sharpen the tip.

Very useful for drawing details too.








Some final touch ups with the dress and face and we're done...

Using 8B this time. Stronger tone is a MUST against black background.










At last we're here...

After ages of toll...

The more I look at it, the more correction is needed so I had to close it and move on...








I can't believe I survived 30 hours and 45 minutes to work on this piece, spread across 3 very busy weeks with very little time to do art.

All the time I thought about it and wished I could be at home trying to get it done sooner...

I challenged myself to do another black background because once it comes on, I see how inadequate my shading is. I tend to get too light in my shading due to lack of confidence, one reason why I actually feared charcoal because it's so dark!

I learned a lot on how to strengthen my tone. Let's see if it helps in my future works!

A good question to ask would be: "How do you look in black, washed out or radiant?"

Thanks for visiting! Hope you like this one!