Here are the stuffs I use to make a pencil portrait...A3 sketch book, Staedtler pencils 2B to 8B, kneadable erasers and tortillions...

I always start with a faint guide line, doing a quick sketch of the picture with a 2B pencil.

I did a quick sketch of the features to prepare for more adjustment...

Getting the proportion right is vital. I spent about 35 minutes adjusting this one. The success of the portrait depends on it.

The rest of the shading comes rather easy after the proportion is done. I started light with the same 2B pencil.

This is my favorite step...using a tortillion to bring the shading to life.

The face is almost done...

Time to shade the hair. Up till now all the shading was done with a 2B pencil. I kind of work from light to dark.

I used a 4B pencil to darken the features, drawing the eye lashes one by one like a make up session. Then I darkened the hair further with a 6B pencil.

The final picture...
This drawing is dedicated to my dear friend afordite
Again, this took me approximately 5 hours to finish, split in to days because I'm always so busy...T___T
Will learn to work faster.
Hope you like it!