Portrait Feedback Greatly Appreciated
3d
W.I.M.U
Hello !
I just finished the biggest portrait I have ever made.
But I really struggled with the values. The darkest value from my graphite pencil is much lighter than the darkest from my charcoal. I think I didn’t go dark enough, like around the eyes, but if I used charcoal it would’ve been too dark.
Maybe it!s just me tough. What do you think?
I also tried my best to make she shadows look interesting but I’m not sure if I succeeded.
Do you have any type of pen you’d recommend? Any critique about the portrait is also welcomed!
Thanks for reading and have nice one ;)
Wow. Good job. This is a super tricky reference to work from! That lighting is brutally difficult... Your effort in designing those subtle shapes is fantastic as well. Really gives your drawing a lot of character.
Yeah, mixing graphite and charcoal is usually not the best idea, partially for the reasons you found out. For something like this, I might opt for a carbon pencil like the Wolff's Carbon 4b or 6b, which offers a lot of the same smooth control as graphite but has a richer value-range similar to charcoal. The 6b can go very dark. And it's also matte, which is nice. No graphite shine. They're among my favorite pencils.
Then again, I'm not sure it would matter what you used for this drawing; it's going to be a bear to render such a subtle lighting situation! I commend you for your results!
Thanks a lot for your feedback! It means a lot. I’ll definitely try using a 6b next time. Thanks again !
