CHARCOAL SKETCH PORTRAIT

For portraits in pencil I draw onto a lovely smooth, heavyweight fine art paper made by a Kolkata paper mill called Brustro. It is made from cotton fibres instead of wood pulp and is therefore of the highest archival grade and will never turn yellow. I work with my favourite Doms & Faber - Castelle pencils in several different grades, ranging from HB down to a very soft 8B pencil.

When the portrait is finished I spray it with a specialist fixative spray to stop any of the graphite from rubbing off before placing it in an acid-free cellophane sleeve so that you can safely handle it until you’re ready to have it put in a frame. Pencil portraits are sent out sandwiched between custom-cut MDF sheets so that they can’t be bent or creased in transit.