3 hour portrait

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brown col-erase pencil on strathmore 400

3 hour portrait start. It definitely doesn't match the image I had in my head starting out ;) The light changed pretty significantly throughout the sitting (partial natural light to start before the sun set). Also, this was done at an event where people were milling about looking at art and occasionally watching us draw--which honestly doesn't bother me at all, except that I just couldn't back up as much as I  usually would because there were often people standing quite close behind me. And I think the drawing suffered a bit for that. Some of the features feel a little askew, so I wish I'd had a little more time to finesse the placement of the features (I put those eyes in during the last 15 minutes, and they need some work). Maybe I'll try to make some corrections from memory later. This is actually quite a bit larger than I've been drawing portraits lately. Drawing larger is actually more natural for me. And when I start on a large piece of paper, the drawing grows to fit it (just like goldfish in their tanks ;).

But drawing issues aside, value is probably my biggest struggle right now overall. That's the point in the drawing where I really get hung up and don't know how to move forward. I'd really like to develop the ability to simplify value more effectively. I feel like I've made some headway with simplifying shapes, but value eludes me. I know it'll take time. 

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