Graphite Sketch

I’ve almost used up the pad of three-colour paper. The results aren’t always great, but the paper’s good enough for practising, and if something decent comes out of it every now and then, that’s a bonus.

What I drew at home this morning looks like utter rubbish, yet I’ve put it in a sleeve and kept it. That way, at least I can see what’s wrong, and who knows, I might tweak it one day.

As it’s quiet in the shop, I was able to do two sketches. My aim was to complete them within a few minutes using no more than 12 lines.

With the first drawing, that went brilliantly, but I soon got distracted.

With the second one, I moved on to the details too quickly, which was particularly tedious and time-consuming.

There’s always that awkward moment when the drawing (or painting) doesn’t look like anything yet. In this case, I drew with graphite, which I really like, although I do find sharpening the pencil tips a bit of a faff.

The kneaded eraser worked well for this sketch, and the cotton bud also smudged the graphite neatly.
I’ve decided not to add any further details; after all, it’s only a sketch, and the most important thing is that the eyes look right. Which, incidentally, was what distracted me.

_{Materials: coloured paper, kneading eraser, graphite pencil 6B, cotton bud to blend.
29-7-2026}