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!