The piece that I created for this task, I completed in pencil. I was anxious about overdoing it, as I had in the task beforehand, whilst drawing a self portrait. I was careful not to over-draw or over-shade this sketch, and I feel so pleased with the outcome – especially as this person doesn’t even exist!

I simply put my pencil to paper and just sketched. Usually I would start a portrait by mapping out a rough head shape, however, those sketches haven’t been completely successful so I thought I’d try a different approach. I began by drawing the nose, and working my way outwards, drawing the general face shape and the hair last. I think this was a huuuuge help, as my piece looks far more realistic and accurate than the others.

I’m particularly pleased with the mouth and lower part of the face in general. I think the shading is subtle but very effective and the face shape/structure is clear, without being over-defined. Hallelujah!

I found it surprisingly easy to draw a face from my imagination. I think this was due to the fact that I could just draw what I felt like drawing, instead of having to stick to a specific model. There weren’t small, annoying details that I would potentially mess up or miss out altogether, as this face was completely made up in my own head.

The eyes are a little too large and differ in size, and perhaps the nose a little off, but I’m really pleased with how this turned out. I really enjoyed drawing the hair. I thought that I would struggle with the hair of a portrait as it seems to me to be the feature that would require the most work, however, I spent 5-10 minutes adding the hair to this sketch and, although it’s simple, it’s effective. I didn’t go over it and over it, making it as realistic as I could. I just added the hair and gave it a general texture and shape. It was easy, and enjoyable. It also transformed the sketch from a drawing of a face into the head of a woman. Even my partner was surprised at how well I’d done!