Draw the Basic Shapes of the Head, Neck and Shoulder
With a 4H pencil, sketch an egg-shape for the head, in three-quarters view. Sketch the neck and shoulders. Add a circle indicating the shoulder joint. Check your proportions with one of the proportioning tools.
Add the Arm and Hand
Add lines for the upper and lower forearm. For correct proportions, compare the length of the upper and lower arm to the height of the head, using one of the proportioning tools. Sketch lines for the hand and basket. Add lines that indicate the ridges of the hand’s knuckles and thumb. At this stage, the hand should look like a mitten, since the individual fingers are not yet defined. Sketch lines to indicate the sides and bottom of the basket.
Sketch the Features and Fingers
Sketch in placement lines for the eyes and nose, and add a line for the center of the face. Sketch ellipses for the basket. Then go back and refine the eyes, nose, mouth and eyebrows. Add the individual fingers on the hand. To see which fingers are longer and shorter, you may want to look at your own hand and draw accordingly.
Continue Defining the Face, Hand and Arm and Indicate the Clothing
Sketch the ear and add more definition to the facial features, arm, hand and fingers. Erase any obsolete guidelines with a kneaded or white vinyl eraser. Add the basic form of the clothing and head scarf, noting where major folds occur. Also add short lines indicating the arm on the far side of the basket.
Add Details and Begin Shading
Sketch in the vegetables, the weave of the basket and the jewelry. Add details to the clothing, basket and ear. Erase any obsolete guidelines with a kneaded or white vinyl eraser. Add very light lines to indicate value variations on the face, neck and arm. Use the value scale to check the appropriate value changes. Keep in mind that the light source is at the upper left, so shade accordingly. Lighten some of the pencil work on the forehead, cheek, nose and arm by gently pressing a kneaded eraser on these areas to lift some of the graphite.
Add Darker Values to the Face, Neck, Arms and Hands
With an HB pencil, darken the neck, the far side of the face and under the nose and lips. Define the eyes and ear, darkening any area in shadow. Darken the arms and hand, making the farthest arm darker than the nearest arm. Use the value scale to check the values. Add a few details to the fingers, but keep the details to a minimum as the fingers are mostly in shadow.
Add the Background
With the HB pencil, begin adding the darks of the background. Use the value scale to create the appropriate level of lights and darks. Confine your marks to the top and left sides of the background. To make a clean edge, use copier paper as a frisket and proceed with downward pencil strokes. After you’ve done some of the background with the frisket, remove it and continue putting in the background without the frisket, giving the border a rough, loose look.
Darken the Background and Add Light Values to the Clothing
Use the HB pencil to make up-and-down strokes to further darken the values of the background. With the 4H pencil, add the lighter values to the clothing. Add interest to the composition by continuing the clothing on the left beyond where the dark of the background ends.
Add Darks to the Clothing
With an HB pencil, add the darks to the clothing. Use the value scale to help you add the appropriate values. The creases of the clothing will most likely be very dark.
Add Light Values to the Basket and Vegetables
With a 4H pencil, start adding values to the basket, keeping some areas light to show the weave. Use subtle value changes for the vegetables, with the lightest areas on the left.
Add Darks to the Basket and Vegetables and Add the Finishing Details
With the HB pencil, add darker values to the basket and vegetables. Use the value scale to see if you need to make any adjustments with the 4H and HB pencils. Make some areas, such as some of the clothing creases, even darker using a 4B pencil. Lighten any areas that are too dark by gently removing the graphite with the kneaded eraser. Sign and date your drawing.
