This is a drawing of Nora, which was commissioned by Emma a few months ago. My client, Emma, emailed me a couple of photos of this lovely lady. She chose the photograph below which pictures Nora in a lovely way, smiling at the camera. I wanted to capture the kindness in her eyes.
Emma was delighted with the scanned image of the finished drawing:
Hi Ivana! It looks amazing, better than I could have imagined. Thank you very much.
Emma on seeing the scanned image of the finished drawing of Nora, Dublin, June 2025
The photograph I worked from was a simple small image that didn’t offer much in terms of detail, but has a lot of expression. I cropped it a little and removed the background to focus solely on Nora and her inviting face.
Emma emailed me again when she received the drawing in the post:
Hi Ivana! Just opened the portrait, thank you very much it’s means very much to me and you did a great job I really appreciate it. Thank you…
Emma when she received the portrait in the post, Dublin, June 2025
I worked at a smaller A4 size of 30 x 20 cm. I used graphite pencils on paper as with most of my drawings. I started with a simple line sketch with a HB pencil. The pencils I used are made by Staedtler. They are a mixture of graphite with some charcoal content which gives them a great stability and darkness at the same time.
With a line sketch completed and once I was happy with the likeness, I started with some basic shading. I covered the entire area and returned to darken shadows while considering the values on the whole portrait.
I worked on a Fabriano 50% cotton paper. This is a hot pressed paper with a smooth texture. There is a lovely subtle surface. It is very sturdy and can withstand a lot of layering with graphite. I like to work in a number of layers darkening the portrait as I go.
I turned the portrait away for a couple of days and returned to it to re-evaluate all the values. I added some small adjustments to the drawing before scanning and emailing it to Emma. I posted the portrait mounted in a neutral coloured mount after I applied some fixative to the surface. This keeps the dust away from the drawing and prevents it from smudging.
[…] commission query arrived in my inbox from a client returning for a second portrait. I drew a pencil drawing of my client’s grandmother Nora in September 2025. Emma, my client, wanted a memory of her grandfather to hang beside the one of […]