hi all
im a newbie this is my 3rd attempt and unlike the previous two it does have some resemblence to the subject
so ALL critism advice help etc would be very much appreciated
this was drawn with 2h and f pencils on computer prnter paper and while i was sitting in front the telly would like to get a small drawing board so i can finish better
the hair i didnt finish as the photo (which was on the internet) didnt show the full hair and i think my interprtation would have made it worse
sorry the photo isnt very good i must learn how to take a better picture
regrds
les
just seen pic is too large will try to reduce it does anyone know how

Thanks for posting the reduced version, because even with broadband, the big one was just too big!

Now we need to work on contrast and focus; the photo is just too blurry for us to really say anything. Try taking another photo, this time in direct sunlight. Both the contrast and the focus should improve significantly.

The only thing I can really tell you based on this is that 2H and F are both hard pencils and if that's all you use, your drawings are going to be too light in general. It's possible to achieve very rich blacks with graphite, if you do it right -- which includes using at least a 2B (or even better, 6B) for the darks. 2H is good for sketching and subtle shading of skin, but it's too light to carry a whole drawing.

Hello,

Here are some of my suggestions that I hope will help you.

If you can shoot it outside this would be the best because inside lighting gives off a yellow tint.

If not, see if you can get two light sources shining indirectly on the page. Place the drawing on a white background so that it is easier for your camera sensor to detect what settings it needs to take a good quality photo.

See if you can manually adjust your camera to shoot it in B&W. Then you do not have to worry about unwanted tints. Many cameras have that function.

Also, placing your camera on something or using a tripod reduces camera shake.

Now to the drawing

What I noticed right away is that your lines are well blended. Although your proportions are somewhat out, your shading appears to be quite good.

I suggest trying to draw upside down to get the proportions right and using a graph with lines that are about 1" apart

Place your page over the photo and slowly move down the photo as your draw.

Use the lines of the graph to help you. Erase them as you go down your page.
By covering up the rest of the drawing, you force yourself to focus one one area at a time.

Roughly sketch out an outline of the face, eyes, ears, and mouth. For the nose, roughly shade in the bottom, but leave a lot of it for later when you start shading.

Then flip your page and fix any small errors.

Then start shading once you are happy with were everything is.

Note: I also have a step by step technique that may help you. It can be found on my drawing website.

HAPPY DRAWING:)

Hi Les. As has been mentioned, I think you need much more in the way of darks. The reason for this is that the paper is the whitest value you are going to get (as long as you aren't using something artificial for the whites). So with that set, you are in control of the darkest darks in the drawing. Regardless of whether you want a realistic drawing or something else, you are probably going to want to have lots of mid tones which are used to sculpt the planes of the face (and everything else but you are doing a portrait). So if you go black enough, you have all the values from plain paper to your darkest dark for mids. Right now that range is rather too limited I believe. With most portrait drawings (animal or human), I start with the left side eye. The reason for this as pertains to this discussion, is that the catchlight in the eye is the very lightest value on the entire drawing. And the pupil will be the very blackest area - with the added advantage that they often touch. This gives me my range and I can build outward from there with decent variation in value and a wide enough range of mids to sculpt.

You are making your life difficult when working only with 2H and F. For a human portrait, I will generally start with some layers of 4H - up to 6 till it's smooth. Then I will use 2H for lighter tonal variances and maybe a 2B for dark shadows. It might take me 4-8 layers or even more of these to get the tone where I want .. it's slow going. Then another 4-6 layers of 4H or maybe 2H to blend, soften and even. I may use a 4B in the very darkest corners. Overall I use 6H (very little), 4H, 2H, F, HB, 2B and 4B. That's almost more than I need as there is a decent overlap of all.

Ken