Due to the monochromatic nature of charcoal portraiture, my work has a huge reliance on light. Angles and texture create the basis of portraiture, but light is the dictator of how these elements work together. The appearance of reflections, pores, and hairs can alter if the lighting of a subject is moved or changed. This is part of what I love so much about working with monochromatic mediums, and what I find so interesting about all portraiture, photography, painting, and drawing alike.

For me, the easiest way to start a portrait is with the skin, working inwards towards the centre of the face and, lastly, drawing the eyes. In this way, I’m able to create a base for the features, altering the eyes to suit the tones of the skin. Although the skin arguably takes the longest to draw, it is one of the most relaxing parts of the process, helping me to ease into drawing before focusing on the smaller details. The eyes, oddly, are normally quite quick to draw. You can watch a time-lapse of my ‘Silver’ final piece on my ‘Final Pieces’ page.

Although much of my work is created on smaller A4 pages, my preference is to do larger portraits ranging between A3 and A1. Having a larger surface to work with makes the process more interesting, allowing more room for detail, and often being quicker than creating small pieces! I find, when creating these larger portraits, I’m able to draw what I need in one attempt, whereas smaller pieces often take a bit of trial and error to get the perfect result. Nonetheless, both forms are fantastic practice!