FINISHED PORTRAIT

Coloured pencils on toned paper, 11 8in (28 20cm) Turning my attention to the lights, I used light pencil pressure to layer Polychromos dark chrome yellow on the entire left-hand side of her face where the light strikes it. I then shaded over the top with Prismacolor light peach, varying the pencil pressure to create variations in the light. If I want it to be lighter, I press on the pencil more, and vice versa. This unifies and blends the light areas, especially the separation between light tones and the shadow. I added a touch of rose carmine in the cheeks and nose, rotating the paper to make strokes that are not too repetitive or linear. I use a pink, such as Polychromos rose carmine, and greys to soften the edges between light and shadow and to unify everything else. I love the way light greys turn desaturated blue on this coral paper. I shade everything with heavy pencil pressure, rather than using the blender. However, if you think your shading is not complete without additional blending, use a Caran d’Ache full blender at the very end, blending everywhere you don’t want to see texture. To finish, I sprayed my drawing outdoors with a final fixative for dry media. I recommend Grumbacher