sketcharoo 2

i'm not fully equipped to record my drawing sessions on video so i decided to take step-by-step (well, almost) pictures of the process. i set down to work as soon as i got up from bed, i felt so guilty for staying up so late into the morning finishing "the hunger games." it was a decision that just happened: one moment i was blogging and checking facebook, the next moment i was down to 30 pages of the book. gah, i love escapism.

well anyway, here's what happened:

for the first time, i decided to draw a rough sketch of the whole picture first. normally, i'd start drawing an eye and then work from there. but lately, i realized that i never get the face shape right. so this time, i'm focusing on the hair and the shape of the face. although the eyes are still my favorite part. we'll compromise in the days to come.

first i drew in the eyes. i like to draw the soul of the picture first. and then not completely sure about what to do with the nose, i decide to start on the hair. drawing hair is my other weakness. and that's a problem because i love my hair. wait whaaat. hahaha. but see, hair is my next favorite thing to the eyes. and whenever i draw hair, i want it to look real. but lately i haven't been able to achieve that. so i kept my fingers crossed this time. well, not really.

rough shading. heavy lines. i make sure to highlight the waves of the hair. first, i filled in the dark areas with a 7B pencil. and then later on i realized charcoal would work much better. so on this drawing i used both pencil and charcoal. collaboration, baby.

blending here and there with a cotton ball. because im obssessive-compulsive and i don't want dirty hands to dirty the whole sheet. i blend in the eyes with a cotton bud. something that came to me in a wonderful epiphany.

and then here comes the lips. it's always fascinating to draw lips and shade them in. always light strokes, never too heavy. and make sure to emphasize the line that separates the upper lip from the lower lip. also never forget to avoid the areas where light hits the lip gloss. works wonders: makes it look a step to closer to the real thing.

i shade in the shadows on the face and finish off with the hair. and voila!

i'm still not convinced by the hair so i need to improve on that. there's more work to do! but for now, it's time for me to eat and go back to sleep. i've got work later tonight. i'll try to squeeze in another drawing tomorrow morning.

delicious ambiguity.