Marylin Monroe

This picture was another suggestion by a friend. Marylin Monroe is a popular subject for portraits, both photos and sketches/paintings, so inevitably mine would be compared with others, but I decided it was worth it. As usual I Googled a picture and found this nice one of MM looking down at the camera with arched eyebrows.

For this picture I used only a B pencil and a very cheap sketchpad which I picked up from a shop near my office. The paper is very thin, but it is also very smooth, which makes the pictures look quite different. The problem is that pencil lines look very much like pencil lines... Let me explain. If I draw a line with either the point or the side of a pencil lead on a textured piece of paper, the undulating nature of the paper means that the line is already quite interesting before going any further. This is not the case with smooth paper, so I 'cheated' and in the smooth areas of the faces used my finger to smudge the darker shadows into the right places. I also made the earrings far simpler - after all they don't make the face any more or less recogniseable!

Anyway, here she is. Let me know what you think in the comments setion:

http://pencil-pictures.co.uk