1-With a 2H or your lightest pencil, quickly sketch the head of the statue. Feel free to flip to step 8 to get a sense for the finished product.
Artist Trick
Use a series of horizontal and vertical lines to map out proper proportions.
2-With light shading, indicate the darkest areas: around the eyes, ears, underside of hair, chin, and nostrils.
3-Darken them a bit. Blend out to the mid-tone area. Strokes should follow the form and shapes of the features you are defining.
4-Define the eyes, face, nose, ears, and lips. Finish the planes of the face, from mid-tone to a light value. Leave blank areas that catch the light.
5-With an H, push the values in a select few areas like the upper lid and nostrilbut don’t use tons of pressure.
6-Think of the hair and eyebrows as solid shapes and not thousands of strands. Have your strokes follow the waves and curls of the hair, with breaks where highlights are.
KEY-DETAIL PRACTICE
For eyebrow hair, start with strong dark vertical strokes in the center of then face, then fan and angle them out to lighter, shorter strokes as they reach the edge of the face.
7-Feel free to indicate some loose strands of hair that add definition.
8-To create realism, shade the areas around the head with a mid-tone. Take one final look and see what areas could use a bit more pop.
