Graphite Self Portrait

This page is about drawing realistically with graphite pencils. The first image is a graphite value strip to practice getting different shades with different pencils. The second drawing is the self portrait. The main idea of the self portrait was to see how well we could realistically draw stuff with graphite pencils and different shades.

Both the portrait and value strip were drawn with graphite pencils. The portrait was used with pencils 2H, 2B, and 4B. The value strip used pencils 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, and 6B. A tortillon was also used for the portrait.

For the portrait, we used the graph technique in order to make the portrait look just like our photo. I started at the top left square and went to the right while drawing. I did the first two rows at the same time, but then switched to one row at a time after that. Getting the shades right was difficult, and since I worked in a very bright area, the final product looks much darker than I expected.