Realistic Self-Portrait

Drawing this self portrait inch by inch was a technique that I have never used. Although it was difficult, I think it made the overall portrait more detailed than it would have been if I did not grid. I tried my best to get it as realistic as I could, I even drew the frizzy hair that was sticking out. I would have never thought that I would have to draw a self portrait with a mask on but it show how strange this year was and I will be able to look back in the future and see what it was like.

To make this piece, all I used was graphite pencils. I used a variety of shades from 2H, to 6B. For the darker areas of this drawing, I used 6B and 2B pencils because the graphite is softer in those two pencils allowing a darker shade. For the lighter areas a used a 2H pencil. My reference photo had many different shades of grey and black so the variety of graphite was very helpful during the process of creating the final project.

Throughout each part of this drawing, I had to shade in order for it to look realistic. Drawing things that are realistic is challenging so having a gridded reference photo is a huge reason that my drawing came out like it did. This piece evolved when I used erasers and more shading to make it so there weren't just pencil lines running through my face, but blended graphite that made it so it looks realistic. Each square that I would draw made it look more and more detailed until I was done and it all pulled together nicely. My next steps to this drawing could be adding even more detail and shading to my face. I could also blend more so my skin looks more smooth on the paper.