Going Back

What I have been doing lately is actually trying to go back to traditional methods and mediums. I started off today with just sketching out a portrait without using any references just to see where my skills truly lye. I have to say after sketching and standing back to see what I did... I need to practice more... as you can see in the portrait the face is a bit long and the eyes are a bit off. However, I do give my self some credit with the shading of the lips and nose. The medium I used here is a sepia red pastel pencil and it was my first time using a pastel pencil. The pastel pencil was soft so the shading was easy to do with a blender.

I plan to refresh my traditional skills since I haven't done anything with traditional mediums for such a long time. I have done things here and there but not consistently. I really look forward to improving and mastering my traditional skills because if I do that then painting or drawing digitally will be so much easier.