Mixed media drawing 

With this portrait my goal was to follow the grids as closely as possible so that the end product would as closely represent the photo as possible. I was trying to use the correct materials and the correct techniques so that I was able to replicate the original photograph as closely as possible. I was trying really hard to only draw one square at a time which was often hard because you see that this one part goes into the middle of the next square, so i'll just do that part. I have found though that if I just draw one square at a time and trust the process even if it may look off at the moment it will come together and eventually look normal. 

For this portrait, I started with only charcoal, it was all done it charcoal but then I went over some of the darker or more textured parts with the ink wash. Then if it needed even more texture or just a smooth outline I went back in and outlined a few things in a gel pen. I think that these materials really complimented each other while still staying separate enough to give a good contrast. 

Something that I did differently with this work was that I went along with a grid, so I just drew from left to right, top to bottom instead of what I usually do which is kind of sketch out the whole shape then fill in certain parts from there. I didn't really do any reaserch or anything, my only source was really myself and my dad. My dad took the photo and then that is all I used for this drawing, just trying to copy every detail so that it would look realistic.