First I draw a simple outline of the person, then I darken up the features a little. Next I take a light graphite pencil (H-HB) and color the face and hair with nice smooth close strokes. I build up the darker areas and leave the highlight areas untouched. I then take some tissue (wraped around my finger) and wipe down the graphite to blend it.
Next I go over the face with a few more layers of graphite, blending in-between layers and adding more darks to build up the shadowed areas (eyelid, under chin, etc.). I then take a sharp darker pencil (2B) and begin work on the eyes, mouth and other features. Throughout the next stages I rework the features until I feel they have the best look.
Next I begin to put many layers of graphite on the hair. Since her hair is blond I use H-4B pencils. I color the hair in the direction that hair grows. I draw the shadowed shapes shown in the reference photo (not individual hairs), wipeing down the graphite in-between layers. I used a 4B pencil in the shadowed areas for the ear and kept the hightlights untouched.
Next I take a kneaded eraser and gently dab the portrait, lifting out more highlights. A good balance between darks, mid-tones and highlights are needed always. Once again following the reference photo is accentual for good results. A helpful tip is to turn the photo and your drawing upside down to better see the many shapes you are rendering.
In this final stage I darken the shadowed areas in the hair with a 4B pencil and dabded the highlights with the eraser. I drew a few hair lines in the highlights to give the hair a more relistic look. I put a few layers of HB pencil on the rest of the skin and blended with tissue. Then took a 6B pencil to color in the clothing and placed final details throughout.
