You have just noticed that I mostly draw men ́s portraits. Drawing a man, you can exaggerate all male facial features and it looks such impressive. I mean cheekbones, mouth muscle, brows. They are on female portrait as well but in this case, you have to convey size and shape of it, or you will lose the femininity. And besides drawing a woman portrait should be mostly emphasized on lips, eyes and thin nose. It is so boring. I like to show anatomical peculiarities of human's head and its most easier to do on men's head.
This reference seemed to me to be a beautiful shadow on the cheekbone, clearly defined. Tension in the mouth, understandable by the volume of the round mass of the hairstyle. Overall, a wonderful portrait to study anatomical features without unnecessary details.
This time I’m drawing without clear measurements; it’s more like a sketch, in which I’m trying to catch the main facial features and proportions by eye. With short strokes and lines, I mark all the semitones, shadows, and highlights that are visible to me. During the work I can always fix small mistakes. It’s easier for me to convey similarity through tone and volume, so, if the construction doesn’t look like a reference, then don’t be upset, it will always be time to work on it. We perceive information through volume, light and shade, color. Try to change your drawing focus to these factors to achieve a quality drawing.
I fill the linear drawing with tone. The strokes are as sloppy as possible; my task now is to cover all the white spots of the sheet within the portrait, except for the highlights. I do it quickly. I'm working on the whole portrait at the same time. Don’t try to perfect the drawing now or work on some part of the face better than others. You should look at the entire drawing. Compare volumes, spots, shadows with each other. At this stage, you can already get closer to similarity due to the tonal pattern.
Now I blur the drawing with a cotton pad or finger. The rough stroke has become softer. The dark spots became lighter, and the light highlights a little darker. The result was a substrate of a light tonal pattern without elaboration of details. The head has become more integral, the volumes are readable, the hairstyle looks like an entire mass.
Further I work with an eraser. I light the highlights, light and semitones. To make dark spots lighter, that is, remove the tone, I use a kneaded eraser. For glare on eyes, lips, hair and just highlights use a simple eraser. I don’t erase with it, as many are used to doing, but I use it to hatch. Cut a piece of rubber at a sharp angle with a knife and you will have another tool besides a pencil.
After working with the eraser, I refine the shadows with a pencil. At each stage my strokes become neater and smaller. Try to convey an accurate pattern of cast and own shadows. This will allow you to get closer to a portrait similarity. When working with volumes and shadows, do not forget about reflexes. Otherwise, you will end up with a 2D effect instead of 3D.
I do the hairstyle like an entire dark volume. Don't draw out every hair. Instead, pay attention to your cast shadow pattern and reflex. Only at the end can you use an eraser to shade a few light hairs in the foreground.
You should approach working on a portrait as a mathematical problem. You know proportions, the skull, the laws of chiaroscuro and perspective. Just apply them and track each step. Don't be afraid to experiment and make mistakes.
