Pencil portrait of I. C. Bratianu

Hello, dear lovers of art & architecture! Today there comes another pencil drawing presentation - my most recent project, specially dedicated to my high school and to my German teacher, one of the few teachers who know about my artworks and praise my talent. You may ask what's the connection between the portrait of the old man and my high school - actually, the institutions is named after the subject of my drawing - Ion Constantin Bratianu, an important Romanian personality from the end of the 19th century.

As you may wish to find out more about this drawing, further on I will let you know some details regarding the drawing process. The dimension of this piece is 40x50 cm - its relatively big size made possible for me to add intricate details, especially in the skin texture:

In general, old people are a challenging subject for drawings - and this one was my first drawing of this kind. The difficulty consists in the wrinkled skin which needs more attention and precision in drawing, but also in the grey or white hair - which, maybe contrary to everyone's expectations, is more difficult to draw than dark hair! Of course, I speak about hyperrealistic style, which I personally choose for my works.

I estimate that I've spent up to 25 hours on this drawing. I used pencils from 2H to 10B and a fine eraser - essential for working on skin texture and hair.

I hope you like my work. Please do not hesitate to ask if you want to find out more details about the drawing or the techniques. Enjoy the evolution below!

That's the evolution of one eye. I add the details and shadows gradually. One tip that I can offer in this case: always insist on eye details, even if you don't want to draw a very realistic drawing - eyes best reflect your subject's personality and attitude and drawing them improperly would spoil the whole piece.