Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on here so I'll make a quick intro.
I am a 24 year old self-taught hyper-realist, I started hyper-realism a few years ago, and I mostly make portraits. My skills are not as great as I would like them to be, I can chalk that up to my laziness cos I don't practice as often as I should. I started out with animated characters before eventually settling on hyperrealism.
I used Graphite and Charcoal on Strathmore paper, with a white gel pen for the highlights around the eyes and the mouth. These days, I'm trying to use less tools to create highlights, the whiteness of the paper should suffice.
I messed up on the background though, I had to erase the initial background I wanted, this of course damaged the paper a bit so I had to improvise with this new one. It was all I could come up with to try and save it. Not the best background I've ever done, but hopefully, the portrait makes up for it.
It's a very small practice drawing, coming in at only 9 x 7 in. I used graphite and charcoal pencils on Strathmore 300 paper
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For Highlights, I mostly prefer to utilize the color of the paper, but in this case, I used a White UniPosca Pen, mostly around the eyes and the lips. I use a Tombow Mono Zero eraser or a Faber-Castell Pencil Eraser to bring out the fine details.
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For blending, I use Blending stumps, cotton bud or a small brush
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I always start my drawings with a grid , I'm not so good as to draw freehand yet, lol. After the grid, I outline the profile of the subject, and the move from there.
(I'll update this later with a picture of the tools I use)