Back to drawing again after a short hiatus

As the song goes ... I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me ... I just had to pick up my pencils and draw again. Used previously on the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs, an old TV hit Ally McBeal and soon on an upcoming Marvel movie, Hooked on a Feeling is love song but it nonetheless aptly describes my interest in drawing since young. That I wasn't very good at it wasn't the point, what mattered was that drawing made me happy. Sadly, young children nowadays are more likely to have an iPad or tablet in between their hands rather than the old fashioned pencil and paper.          

Back to drawing again and it feels alright ...

As I am still in my portrait drawing phase, I sought out a photo reference that would ease me back to drawing as my skills were fairly rusty. The printout of Emma Stone you see above had well defined hair and reasonably straightforward facial features, so it became the subject matter of my tenth portrait practice piece. Surprisingly, despite nearly three months without drawing, I had somehow gotten much better at drawing proportions of facial features i.e. eyes, nose, mouth, cheek, etc. I guess the break from all pencil-related activity did me some good after all and broke me out of a rut.

Getting the proportions right - faint guide lines for Portrait Practice #10: Emma Stone

Main work on this particular piece started with the patient addition of tonal values, one strand at a time to the hair. At this point in time my drawing of Emma Stone's hair is much lighter than the one in the photo reference. I plan to leave it this way for now until I've had the chance to shade her face.

Working on realistic hair from left to ...

... right using a combination of Derwent and Staedtler graphite pencils

While it would be tempting to say that I have finished with the hair, that couldn't be further from the truth. Further tweaking awaits once I finish shading Emma's face because I would then have to make value adjustments to her hair (most likely darker) to make the whole drawing 'look right'. 

Portrait Practice #10 - Work-in-progress on Emma Stone's hair

So as it stands now,  the hair is about 80% complete with the rest to follow once the face is done. To my Malaysian readers who are celebrating the festive period, I would like to wish you Selamat Hari Raya. Otherwise, just enjoy the weekend off from the drudgeries of corporate backstabbing.