Just yesterday, I along with a few other of my colleagues were back at our high school to mark our then principal's retirement. She retired as the director of education of all Lagos State Baptist schools. Pastor Mrs. C. M. Adegoke is the name. (I'm in the light blue attire in case you're guessing 😉)

Talk about a great woman! She is a mother of nations indeed, so many great minds have been born from her leadership. I have her to thank for the foundation of my art career too. I was a science student back in secondary school so "Fine Art" was not part of my syllabus but I wanted to do it so bad. I went to appeal to her with my best friend then who shared the same dilemma 😊 and she agreed without hesitation.

I felt priviledged to have been chosen to do this portrait, courtesy of alumni of Baptist Model High School Ijegun, Lagos class of 2010.

Now to the art proper...

I had to do this portrait in much less time than I would have wanted so it could be presented at the program. I had so little time that I had to try out a different technique on the skin to save time.

I started with the head tie, from left to right as usual to avoid smudging.

I mostly used light graphite pencils, charcoal for the dark shadows only.

Then the face...here's where I used a different techique.

Normally I would just go in straight with my graphite pencils, with or without a layer of powder, then shade till I get my desired depth. Also I only use charcoals for eyes, hair and shadows usually. This time however, I applied my generals charcoal pencils directly on the face and did a lot of blending.

Also I normally shade from top to bottom, completing each area before moving but this time I used a painting approach kindof. I tried to work on the whole face first to bring out the contours and different organs, without focusing much on the shadows and details at first.

I then included the necklace, which had a lot of details that were fun to render.

The laced cloth was quite tasking to draw, I looked beyong the details at first and layed shadows to depict the folding of the fabric first. Then I drew out the patterns with a tombow eraser and shaded where necessary

Adding a border for framing...

I went back on the face to correct some shadows and add a few details and...there you have it!

I can honestly say I put my all into this piece. I missed a major art festival, did three midnight sessions though I was a little ill, charged my colleagues less than half the price I would normally take. That's how much it meant to me, and it was all worth it in the end.

As I guessed, mine wasn't the only artwork presented to her, there was a painting too.

People always say paintings make charcoal drawings look dull but that wasn't the case this time 😊

Summary

Status: commissioned
Size: 35x25 inches
Medium: Charcoal and graphite on cartridge paper
Duration: 60+ hours

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed reading. Click the link to follow me on Instagram and see more of my art.

PEACE