Waaaaaaaaayyyy behind in my 30-day challenge now, but still enjoying working on the beautiful and interesting faces of these 30 inspiring women, from photo references originally pulled together by Olga Furman for her Ode to Women challenge.
This time I had a go at Diana Ross, just a quick charcoal sketch on cold-pressed paper ...
I found this angle quite difficult to do - she's holding her head at a slight angle and tilted slightly back - but it's all really good practice and I enjoyed trying! I also enjoyed experimenting with three different types of charcoal - willow sticks, compressed charcoal and charcoal pencil - they were all useful for different stages of the work. Blending stumps, kneaded eraser and my fingers were also very handy for creating shadows and highlights.
In the reference photo, Diana's expression was really interesting - to me, she seemed thoughtful, a bit wary, almost challenging - I think my version has a very different expression, but I'm still happy with how she turned out, and I'm learning so much from each of these portraits.
Comments