Realistic Self-Portrait

I took this picture of myself with just a plain wall in the background, my hair down and straight and down like it always is, and just a slight smile. Because I have braces I felt like a smile without teeth would be most convenient and the face I made was just basic and simple to draw.

For this drawing I used bristol paper, 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, and 6B graphite pencils. I used the gridding technique to break up my reference paper and bristol paper in 1 inch squares. I then went square by square until I had the entire grid and went back to fix little details and lines.

This is definitely the most realistic self-portrait I've ever created and I would say that I'm proud of how it turned out. The gridding process made it a lot easier and less overwhelming as a whole. If there is one thing I could fix I would say that I would fix the evenness and symmetry of the portrait, it looks a little but tilted. I would also go back and do a better job erasing my grid lines because it kind of takes away and distracts from the big picture.