Portrait of a Girl

Pencil Portrait of a Girl by Don West, Artist
9”x12”, drawn on Canson XL drawing paper
with a Blackwing Matte pencil.

I’m pretty happy with this one for two reasons. First, I took a far more relaxed approach to getting a likeness by more or less scribbling my way into setting the positions of her features. This was much faster than fiddling with trying to get really accurate lines and constructions. Second, it came to a pretty good likeness pretty quick. All that was left was tuning it up. Now I’m not saying this is an exact likeness, but for me, it’s closer than I’ve ever gotten previously. Which translates to significant progress with getting a likeness. I also drew this one about twice the size I’m used to, which I think helped.

Once I hit a few more as well as this one or better, I will focus on hatching in a less sloppy manner. That should really take the finished drawings to a higher level. BTW, I really like this paper. It erases really clean even with dark marks. Particularly with the Blackwing and a Moo eraser.

I’d like to ask a small favor. I stare at these things for so long that I lose a sense of whether a likeness is really there or if I’m just imagining it into existence. Your unbiased and untainted view can help me get better. So, withholding all tendencies toward kind comments in this case, I would appreciate any true opinions on whether you think this is a likeness or not. You can’t hurt my feelings or ego since I’m not drawing for any other purpose than getting better and enjoying each drawing.👍🙂

Reference photo for “Portrait of a Girl”
Reference photo for Portrait of a Girl.