"Self Portrait: Close Up", graphite and colored pencil. 4.5 hours. (20in x 12in)

I created this piece because I wanted to do a self portrait. The reference picture was one that I took as a close up of my eyes, and I wanted to emphasize the bright blues. I also wanted to use the graphite to create the dark corners and lines in an eye. Doing an eye gave me an opportunity to do a lot of value work in a relatively small portion of my face. The most difficult part was getting the gaze even, but the easiest was the light tones on the bridge of the nose.