So I went for it. :)
In general, I am more satisfied with my faces than during September's challenge. I guess back then I was trying too hard. Using cheep paper (the back of my daughter's report cards from the daycare) and a random pencil I feel more relaxed and free to make mistakes and that sometimes can give unexpected results.
At the beginning of the month, I worked on the sketches with a regular pencil (with a rather bad point as you can see clearly in Faces 1 and 2), then I switched to a mechanical pencil with a consistently fine tip. That helped a lot. The lead is much softer than the one I use in the drawings that I end up coloring. It smudges easily and it would probably not work too well for my usual purposes ( it's a bit hard to erase), but for these sketches it felt surprisingly nice to handle and made me wonder whether I should switch to a mechanical pencil (with an appropriate lead, of course) permanently.
I must also say that I have essentially no skills in the refined art of pencil sharpening, which I know I should probably consider more carefully...I never thought it would matter to me because I end up inking over my pencils anyways. Any opinions in the matter?
What kind of pencils or special drawing tools do you use? How did you discover them?
Beautiful work. I use a mechanical pencil.
ReplyDeleteI've done my sketching for some time now with a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 2H (It's dark blue with a black tip). I tried some of their other leads but this one seems just right for me. (I have thought about trying mechanical, but haven't yet. So many art supplies!) This face is beautiful! I love the veil and bow too.
ReplyDeleteGood on you for trying out scary things! And it turned out wonderfully! For drawing I always use a mechanical pencil (I think it's a B), while I do the shading with regular pencils. I hardly ever use the H-varieties, mostly HB and B's.
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