I lifted off the pencil from the finished pen sketch with a kneadable eraser. I will add shading with the pencil but I want to clean the sketch up at this stage so I can see where shading and colour should go. If you notice a slight smudge around the tip of the nose that's a reminder to wait for the pen to dry before going over the sketch with the eraser - doh! Never mind, I'll soldier on!
Having had a day away from the drawing I have had time to think about the approach and have decided to work in some colour as well as shading. Adding colour should reinforce the Art Nouveau influence and choosing a colour scheme of pale green and orange fits the period. Using coloured pencils allows me to add and build the colour subtly and to some extent I can lift the colour off with the kneadable eraser.
To maintain the focus on the eyes they will be the darkest part of the drawing and I'll pick out the other details in a lighter shade. I work in several colours and then add detail and some shading with the mechanical pencil and detail and a little shading with the pen.
At this stage I can play around with the depth of colour and shading, trying out how much different parts of the sketch need to be brought forward by building them up more or how much needs to be kept in the background, working all the details up equally would make the whole drawing seem flat.
So I've worked up the sketch with a pen, added in some colour and shading with coloured pencils and the mechanical lead pencil and picked out detail in the eyes with the pen over the top of the pencils. I used colours in pale green, orange and grey and a touch of blue and grey in the eyes. The colours are more subtle in the photo than on the sketch and I've applied them loosely, not really trying to build up form. I think I'm going to leave the sketch alone at this stage rather than over-working it, I like the lightness of it. I'll start a new sketch tomorrow.
