Smiling Woman: Sketch

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Smiling Woman
9 x 12
Graphite and charcoal on paper

This is a warm-up project for the color portrait I am planning to work on. It's done from a black and white picture that I saved from a magazine. When the reference is not too varied in colors it's rather easier to reproduce. But at the same time it's too easy to pinpoint the slips on likeness.

There are a couple of important lessons that I learnt during and after I finished. One, choose the right paper. I meant to use Bristol but used classic cream instead because I forgot! I need to remember this for all the future projects. Two, Charcoal and graphite don't mix too well. I used 2B of both but I had to cottonball most of the charcoal for smooth burnishing.

This project was the shortest of all so far in the similar category. It took me just a weekend. That's progress. I think it's quite bold of me when I say I feel ready for a commission if anyone brings.

For future, I plan on drawing from live models and getting some published stuff about what I know. Well, we will see how distant future am I talking about but I am sure...soon.