Tatopani Drawing Process

The first 6 photos were taken with a tablet computer.  They are of lower resolution than the last two photos.  The working time between photos varies between perhaps 30 minutes’ work up to 2 or three hours; I do not draw to a fixed timetable.

I must apologise for the poor quality of the photos taken on the tablet computer.  They demonstrate graphite shine in the top half of the picture, affecting mainly the hair, which is embarrassing as I have recently uploaded a tutorial on reducing graphite shine!  My wife had taken our Lumix camera on holiday with her and I used an Amazon Fire tablet with the drawing on the floor in front of a patio window for the early photos.  Subsequent investigation has revealed that the part of the drawing nearest the window suffered from shine on the graphite reflecting light from the sky through the top of the patio doors.

What may well strike you is that I do not work to a plan.  I work on different parts of the drawing as the whim takes me.  If I get bored while working on one part, I switch to a different part of the drawing! 
I am right-handed, but contrary to received wisdom I do not start at the top left of the drawing.  As my drawings are A4 I can usually reach across my drawing from the side without smudging  what I have already drawn, although I do always use a sheet of clean paper onder my hand for safety.

1    I had hoped to include an initial sketch on its own but the autofocus gave a very blurry image as there was virtually nothing to focus on so my first picture here also contains some shading.  The initial sketch was made using a 0.3mm/2B Pentel with Ain Stein lead.  Key positions were marked and some outlines drawn in, all very lightly to avoid damaging the paper surface, using the ‘slip and slide’ method.  The indentations for the fine white hairs, particularly on the cuff and shoulder of the jumper were also made at this stage with an embossing tool.  Preliminary shading was done using circular shading on the face, finely and then blended with a tissue, and rather more coarsely without blending yet, to the background.

2    Here I have blended the background with a tissue and have done some initial shading on the jumper, using the side of the point of a 4B wood-cased pencil.  I have also slightly refined and increased the shading on the face and hand.

3    I have introduced some large-scale mottling into the background, similar to that in the reference (tissue-blended circular shading 0.3mm 2B and 0.5mm 4B).  A little more work on the face and the mouth (0.3mm 2B).  Used 6B and 8B pencils on the jumper on her left shoulder.  Continued the shading and definition on her hand. (0.3mm 2B).

4    From this point onwards I changed to working mainly from the computer.  For stages 1, 2 and 3 had worked from a laserprint of my reference, but this showed insufficient details in the jumper and hair.  Further refinement of face and hand.  Shading of eyes (up to 8B).  Adding depth and detail to the jumper.

5    Started on the hair. Firstly blocking in tones with a wood-cased 4B using the side of the point followed by blending with tissue than using a sharp 6B, working from dark to light and starting to draw out highlights with a kneadable eraser.

6    Refined the hair using 6B and 8B pencils and a kneadable eraser.  Erased bright hairs with a Tombow ultra-fine eraser.

7   General darkening of jumper by going over it with the side of an 8B pencil.   Darkened knuckles (later reduced in the final adjustment!) and added the fly-away hair under her left hair bunch. At this point I received my 0.2mm HB mechanical pencil.  I used it to add fine detailing in the area where the light on the face was at a grazing angle.  Also to add some fine detail in the highlights in the hair.

8    Final checks and adjustments.  Remodelled the hair over her left temple (not very clear in the reference). Adjusted the hair below her right hair bunch.  Adjusted the shading on the fingers and knuckles. Adjusted the profile of her chin on her right, darkened her neck and made some final adjustments to the shading on her face, particularly on her left hand side.

The full-resolution upload of the final drawing is