Prove yourself as the best artist for the week

Hello amazing Steemians,

Welcome back to my art post. I am excited to participate in this week's contest titled "Prove Yourself as the Best Artist This Week" hosted by @dequeen. I always enjoy joining art contests because they push me to practice more and step outside my comfort zone, and for my entry today, I want to share not just my finished artwork but also the process behind how I drew this portrait below. I decided to create a pencil portrait of an old man wearing a hat because elderly faces usually contain unique expressions and details that make portrait drawing more interesting. Without further ado, I will take everyone through the process of how I created this drawing.

Drawing items

• A4 paper

• mechanical pencil

• graphite pencil

• charcoal pencil

• black pen

• eraser

• sharpener

• blending tissue

Step 1

I began by working on the eyes because I believe they are one of the most important parts of portrait drawing. I carefully adjusted the eyelids and added small details around the eyes. Since this portrait was of an older man, I included fine wrinkles and folds around the eye area to create a realistic appearance.

Step 2

Next, I gradually began to shade the face. I also added more facial lines and shadows around the cheek area to create depth and highlight the aging details.

Step 3

Here I added the beard and the lips. Instead of shading the beard with one dark tone, I used repeated pencil strokes to imitate natural hair strands. I carefully followed the direction of the beard growth and gradually built darker values where necessary.

Step 4

After that, I focused on the hat. I wanted it to stand out while still blending naturally with the portrait. I used heavy shading techniques to achieve the dark tone of the hat.

Step 5

After finishing the hat, I moved on to shading the clothing. I shaded the jacket and clothing folds to balance the portrait and make everything look connected.

Step 6

After making a few corrections and cleaning some areas with an eraser, the portrait was finally complete. Below is my final result.

A selfie with my drawing

Art is not simply about drawing lines on paper. It is about bringing imagination and emotions together to create something meaningful. I am happy to share this piece in this community and participate in this wonderful contest. Thank you for stopping by, and I look forward to sharing more creative works with everyone.

Inviting

@shimulakter

@green015

@maryam86

@us-andrew

Cc @dequeen

Thank you all