Graphite pencil portrait drawing of a child

Custom pencil portrait drawing of a child

The original portrait photo did not show the complete hair so I decided to fade the edge of the composition instead of trying to fill in what wasn't in the photo.  I think it works quite well in the final portrait drawing. To get the very fair skin tones I use graphite powder brushed on with a soft cotton wool pad. Some artist prefer to use a dry brush but I tend to prefer the cotton wool method. The details are drawn with a variety of soft pencils, and a malleable art eraser is used to finally pick out reflections and lines in the hair.



http://www.portraits-online.com/art-blog/portrait-of-a-child-graphite-pencil-drawing