This portrait is based on a photo I downloaded from Pixabay. I used soft vine charcoal for the large shaded areas, For the more detailed areas, I used charcoal pencils 2B and 6B, in addition to Conte crayon in light gray, with mere touches of Conte in white. The rendering was done on Strathmore 400 gray toned sketch paper.

Here’s another portrait study from an Unsplash photo. Again, shading is a major issue. I also don’t have the shape of the subject’s chin and cheeks quite correct. The mouth is fairly decent, but not shaded dark enough.

Here’s my attempt at another portrait. I need much more experience in properly toning and shading darker skin. While I did some shading on the subject’s neck, the shading on her right and left cheeks is entirely absent, and around the bridge of her nose is much lighter than the reference.

I could say the same regarding the white shirt.

Based on a photo from Clarke Sanders on Unsplash.