PENCIL DRAWING - Commission process

A few days ago, a couple asked me to portray them, Delighted with my work, they sent me the reference photo and I want to show you step by step the process of creating this commission.

For this type of work I use a range of materials, different pencils, brushes, etc.
I also like to print the reference and use different scales to differentiate the tones, I almost always change it to a gray scale to get closer to the tones.

The materials I needed for this portrait were:

• A4 Opaline 180G.
• Mechanical Pencil, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B Leads.
• Moldable Eraser.
• Brushes.
• Diffusers.
• Embosser
• Charcoal Pencil, Medium.
• Graphite powder.

The Process:

• To make the main sketch I used a light screen to, in this way the sketch is as close to the reference as possible.

• I usually start painting from the left, but this time I started on the right side, I think it was more comfortable for me.
  To illustrate the face I make a base layer with the hb pencil, and I go up the tone to create volume, for this face I used the 2B pencil.

• Once the base layer is done, I make the eyes using the charcoal pencil.

• With the 2b pencil I shade the face to give volume, it was a bit complicated because of the reference filter, but using common sense and practice helps to make a good shading.

• To perform the hair. I use an embosser to make lines of light, so when I paint with charcoal, these lines are marked and pretend to be hair.

• Then I make the details of the clothes, inserting pencils like hb, 2b and 4b. to make eyebrows and eyelashes I used pencil 6B.

• Now illustrate the face on the left, I usually follow a path painting that is why I started from the beard which I made with a charcoal pencil and a little powder to add shading.

• Like the other face I created a base layer for the skin tone and with the pencil 2b and 4b I created the shadows.

• I used the smudger to create facial details and the brush to smudge and create volume.

• With the graphite powder, I illustrated the cap and then painted the background, which does not show much but adds atmosphere to the portrait.

After adding details, and many hours of work I can finish the illustration.

This was a summary of how I made the commissions, there are a series of steps and details that I did not include that make the result excellent.

These works are done with a lot of patience, I spent many hours trying to paint the girl's nose correctly since it is very difficult to appreciate in the reference.

I hope you like the creation process and I want to thank you for stopping by.

See you in the next post!

Roll Out!