Walkthrough : My first charcoal pencil photorealistic drawing

Hey Steemians. Good day and welcome yet again to another walkthrough of an artwork I just made. As I've stated in my previous art post, This will be my first ever full charcoal pencil artwork.

Art to me is all about the challenges brought to the table by a tough artwork. I push myself to the limits on most of my drawings (if they are not commissioned). Being very comfortable with graphite pencils, I realized it shouldn't be my limit.... Plus,.. I never did like how graphite reflects light in the dark. So I forced myself to make a full drawing with a charcoal pencil. Marie's soft charcoal pencil.

Again, this artwork is all about concepts and emotions. I was particularly angry when i chose this picture to draw. Lol.

STEP 1

So as usual, I start drawing from the top. Not after drawing my grid to help me get the angles perfectly. I was initially very very scared of adding too much charcoal here because obviously, charcoal wouldn't erase as flawlessly as graphite will... So you can imagine my fear being a novice

Real fear came when my charcoal strokes wouldn't get blurred like graphite when I applied a blending tortilion or tissue. I later got the hang of it. check the video below to see where I blended the nose.
STEP 2

Going on, I try to complete one half of the face. I must confess, no part of this drawing was easy. It was all calculated efforts put on paper. In the reference picture, one half of the picture was rough (spots and pimples maybe) I tried my best to represent each spot I could find. Which was hardwork again.. I also added a reference video covering some parts of the drawing. Do enjoy..

#HERE'S A VIDEO OF MY DRAWING

STEP 3

I then completed the other half of the face. This came easy though. (easy in a though way) I had to rub my tissue which was filled with charcoal at a certain pressure on the part after outlining the really dark areas. The though part was trying not to drag excess charcoal dust from the dark parts to the light areas.

STEP 4

That done. I move on to shading the shoulder and chest. Pheeew This part was really hard too. I almost dropped my pencil in annoyance but I've started already and I'm not an advocate of procrastination. I sat down with it and tried to make the best effects I could make.

Tissue obviously doesn't work on chac

Using a charcoal pencil to draw a complete artwork for the first time wasn't the sweetest experience. I spent a total of Five days working on this. 5hrs daily. I was particularly slow because I wasn't used to the pencil. I'm really looking forward to making more artworks with my charcoal pencil since I'm very wowed about my first product.

Do let me know what you think of it

Why I love Drawing

Drawing has always been my thing right from when I was young. It's an expression of my feelings and emotions. I also love the ability of artworks to transfer emotions into the spectator which is one of the ultimate goals I try to reach with my drawings.
Drawing has also contributed to my income as I take commissions. It's not just a play thing now. It's work too.

Drawing has also made me a bit popular in town here. A few people call me and are like "you're StephensArt on facebook ". The feeling is amazing

Here are some of my precious pencil works