Peter's Sketchbook

[Peter]

looking at your last portrait i think your issue is that 90% of your edges are hard. specially the lines you have in the hair for example. or maybe the lips, both have a hard outline, try to dial back on the lines and just see what you can do with edges or go more for the side of the pencil for line weight instead of the tip; 

Also when you shad the head, like shade with the planes as they move in space. For instance the way you shaded the muzzle above the lip is flat, its just tone, I'll do a paintover just fixing the edges and shading patterns here. 

So just dont be afraid of the side of the pencil and soft edges. Edges are your number one tool to direct the eye around the image. Hair is soft, lips are soft, skin is soft, eyelids are hard, but theres not really much on the human face thats gonna require very deep hard lines for realistic indication. The only thing i can think of are very deep wrinkles on an old person and even then you can use the side of the pencil and go for an 8 value instead of a 10. I also raised the jaw a bit as remember people with longer muzzles tend to be less attractive, you want less distance between nose and lips. I edited the proportions of the ear, hopefully this all helps my dude <3

Thanks for the paint over man, much appreciated. :)

Your right, I'm definitely going too hard on my line weight, even though I am using the side of my pencil (like the bit on the cheek) I must be putting too much pressure when doing it.

I am trying to be conscious of being more delicate with my shading but I'll have to be even more conscious about it and go even lighter.

I'm struggling with shading the areas in light like the cheeks for example, don't have a clue at how I should be interpreting the different values there and how to shade to indicate planes. I'm hoping Jeff can help me understand this in this weeks crit video.