This sketch was very difficult to draw because my client gave me some photos to use that were very poor quality. I love to draw portraits from photos but they must be in focus and have some contrast. When people take pictures of children they often stand above the child and that distorts the perspective it foreshortens the face so the forehead is large and the chin is small. Cameras with built in flash is bad because the flash is so artificial and too direct. a better choice is to have lighting above and to the side.
The drawing was done with only one charcoal pencil, a 2b. I normally will use several pencils of different grades to get all the effects I want. However with this portrait the first attempt was getting too dark. I think I was overworking the picture because I was trying to make sense of the photos I was working with. I kept putting features and shadows in and then questing if they were in the photo at all. So on the second attempt I decided to limit my tools and technique to avoid this problem. I actually found the second production of the portrait to be easier because of the previous studying of the the subject. I realize I was remiss and unprofessional not to do a few studies before starting the actual project. It was drawn on a medium weight acid free paper with a medium texture.
I welcome sketching from pictures and look forward to drawing one from you.
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