This drawing is drawn from a vintage photograph from the early 20th century. It was commissioned by a return client and is of his mother. The photograph has certain romantisizm with strong shadows cast onto the face from the large hat. I softened these shadows a little to show the sitters eyes a little more. I also left the background blank as I thought the portrait worked quite well without it.
The portrait was drawn with graphite pencils in a square format of 30 x 30 cm. I worked with Staedtler black Lumograph pencils which are my favourite pencils these days. Because of the added charcoal in the mixture, I can achieve some nice matt darkness. The sheen associated with graphite is at its minimum but I can still sharpen the pencils to a fine point giving me lots of scope for detailed work.
The client was delighted with the drawing. I wanted to capture a certain melancholy in the portrait.
Drawing progress 
Finishing drawing 
Client photo 
Finished drawing