I would like to attempt a portrait from the attached reference. It poses an number of challenges... like the glare of the light on moist skin, the beads of sweat, the texture of the skin itself, figuring out the viewer's left eye in the darkness..... hmmmmmmm.

But the thing that I think will face me with the biggest problem is the fleecy white towel round her neck. How would you go about rendering that?... save drawing in every single cotton loop. I know that is what Mersmann would probably do... but I'm only Farfallina!

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Rose,
Your attachment isn't there. The first thing that comes to mind is Brenda's squirkling.
Paulette

Argh!! This is the second time this has happened today.... my posts come up in pairs and then when I ask for the replica to be deleted the attachment disappears even from the post I choose to keep.

I'll edit the first post and put the attachment back in

Yes Paulette squirkling does come to mind, but when you see the reference you will notice how clear the toweling loops are.

Rose, its a bit difficult to describe well, but I'll try.

You put down a base tone then build up your values the same as you would with a smoother piece of cloth, but don't try for an even tone. The flat edge of your pencil should make little marks to indicate the overall texture of the terrycloth.

I did a fur collar in a portrait of Oscar Wilde some time ago and its along the same principles, just increase the length of the pencil strokes to indicate roughness. I hope that helps a bit.

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Thank you Jeanette. One more question though. What sort of stroke are we talking here? - squirkling, circulism or just very short hatching?

Hi Rose....

You have a very good photo here. Just draw and shade the shadows of the towelling with slightly curved strokes which emulate loops of cotton. Then because a photo is only two-dimensional, try for 3D with similar strokes where you think appropriate. Good luck - you are learning fast gal!

Cheers.....Maire

I think you should follow what Islander said. I think it would help to at first ignore the fleece and look at it like a regular piece of cloth. Then I would use short hatching for those small threads that make it resemble fleece. I don't really see how squirkling or curculism would benefit here. But maybe this is just a person who has a very scratching, drawing repetive lines, edgy style talking.

Thank you Aviation and Maire for the advice.... and Maire, thank you also for your kind words - very encouraging.

This is what I have so far...it's slow going and the towel is a pleasure yet to come!

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Yet another update... still no towel in sight

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It's coming along great Rose. It will be interesting to see what you do with the towel. I did bunches of sample hair before I started the hair on Jim. Have fun.
Paulette

Thank you Paulette.

Ok so it's just after 1:30am and I'm tired... really tired. I'm off to bed. But I have tried to do one side of the towel. Let me know what you all think before I go on with the other half. Don't hesitate to tell me if you think it doesn't work.. I'll just erase it and try something else.

I've used a sort of uneven curved shading... not circulism because the circles are not compete and not really squirkling either because the curly lines are not continuous but rather individual single curls. Yeah I ended up drawing in every single loop in the stupid towel! I used a 2h for a wash and the added layers of HB and 2B mechanical pencil where shadows and fold required them.

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Now I'm really out of here.

I think its going really well. The only things I think you should improve on are maybe making the threads a little bit longer, although that might be being a little too meticulous. The other thing is making the darks darker and the lights lighter.

Do you know that dark part directly under her chin? If you make that darker and the parts that are light that are towards the bottom lighter, I think it'll make it more apparent that the towel is actually folding. In the real picture in the lighter parts you start to not see the threads, it is just white or some value and in the dark it is sometimes the same but pure dark value. Does that make sense?

I love the way you rendered the face. I wouldn't dream making it that smooth!

Rose, for all its worth, I think the texture looks like terry cloth to me. This is so fantastic how you've improved!

I think it's looking great! I can hardly wait to see this all done. You've been kicking butt.

For the very light loops on the dark sections of towel, where the light is hitting them so they stand out:
There's a technique I haven't tried yet myself to do light strands against dark. You take a stylus, like a mech pencil without lead, and ident the paper just enough so future layers of graphite can't hit it. I would practice making the indentations and rubbing the area with a pencil on a sketch pad first to get the hang of it.

Tismyself and Rose - if you don't have a stylus you can use a darning needle. You know those big needles that have a blunt tip on them? They make small indentations that work pretty well. Good Idea.

Another update.

First of all, thank you Amy (I think it is Amy isn't it?) and Joanie for your kind advice about the "loops in the dark" . I tried several methods. The mechanical pencil without lead didn't work for me. Neither did a thin knitting needle give me the sharp effect I was after - Joanie I haven't darned or sewn woolen garments in years so - sorry - no darning needles around.

What did work was a plain old strong wooden toothpick. Having said that, it only really worked well in virgin territory ... I mean in the places I had not yet shaded ever. In the places where I erased and shaded back in after denting the paper it did work but I did not get the brilliant white I was looking for.

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Now God help me all that is left (save more touching up of the shading) is the hair! I know this could make me or break me so please say a little prayer!!

But before I do the hair... do you think I should put in some hatching for background... or is a background at all necessary?

..... don't forget to pray!!

I decided not to put in a background.

It's done... I think.

I'm happy with the technique. Not a hundred per cent happy overall. Somewhere along the way I seem to have lost some of the likeness... probably in the region of the mouth. But never mind. This isn't even someone I know.. just a reference .... and it was a good exercise.

Thanks everyone for all your help.

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Yes, it is Amy.
On the background, if it were me I'd probably put a background similair to the reference. The darkness on the side will make the towel pop out into the foreground, same with the highlights on her face. One thing I do when I'm not sure, is put a piece of nearly translucent tracing paper on top of the drawing and shade that with a soft graphite stick -- doesn't mark the paper with accidental indents --- to see if I like it before actually adding it to the drawing.

edit: You must have been posting at thte same time as me. Very nice drawing. I've done many drawings where I'm not sure if they are quite done. Sometimes it helps to put it away for a while - a week or so - and look at it again later. Sometimes you need to see your drawings with fresh eyes. Usually when I do this, the things I want or need to change to be satisfied with it pop right out at me.

Rose you did a beautiful job!!! You have done such beautiful work I think you were born and artist and didn't even know it!!