Basic Drawing Skills

This drawing is one of the introductory activities in my Basic Drawing Skills class.  It's a way to practice the proportion of the face.  After the drawing is done the second part of the assignment involves shading it.  I've posted this image just to offer one way to do the shading.  I've left the shading fairly simple so the strokes are clearly visible.  In general I'm using strokes that follow the contour of the face.  There was no smudging used in this picture.  If this was a real portrait I would take the shading to a more finished level by applying more layers.  For most of my life I used the smudging technique which  produces a beautiful soft look.  I now use this modified cross hatching method mainly because it's faster.  It's also a lot of fun getting into the quick rhythm of applying the strokes.  I guess ultimately it feels  a lot like the process of painting but using a pencil.

If you double click the image you'll see an enlarged version where the shading strokes are more visible.