Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 4

The face is nearly complete now. During the past week I worked more on the lower part of the face – the nose, cheeks and chin. Little by little I added more tone. First, I added tone with the 2H pencil, expanding the area of 2H further and further as necessary. Then, I expanded the HB ones further. Finally, I added 2B as necessary to deepen all the tones. I shut the light off here and there and observed the features in low light, comparing the tones to the photo. Then added tone where I felt necessary. The photos here show the progression since last week. If I’m not finished with the face, I’m very close, as I don’t see much of a difference from the photo now – and I’m satisfied with the range of tone.

            One small change I made from last week was to expand the size of Savannah’s right iris. I checked the size on the photo with dividers and determined it was a bit small on the drawing.

            I’m intentionally leaving the sunlit portion of the face the white of the paper to increase the tonal range, contrast and, hopefully, the impact.

            One thing I want to stress here is that I approach the increase in deeping tones very gradually. I continue to maintain very light pressure as I add more tone, trying to keep transitions gradual and continuous. Sometimes it’s hard to see as change in the tone but, as I continue, I begin to see that change, and I stop when I think I’ve added enough. I also deepen the tones by progressing through the range of pencils, from 2H to HB to 2B and up to 4B and 7B if necessary. I always try to work slowly up to where I want to be.

            From here I think I’ll start on the hair. As I work that in I’ll keep checking the tones on the face to see if something jumps out, then make any changes necessary. I’ll also be able to compare the hair tones with the face and see that they are correct in relation to each other.