My drawing update - part one

Hello lovelies, hope you're having a great day...... Today, I'll be sharing with you a part of what's been keeping me busy lately.
This is an exhibition piece which I'm currently working on for publication in my school's magazine; I've been on this for about four days now... Hope you don't think I'm lazy, truth is i got stuck up with lots of school work.
Waking up today, i thought i should share with you the progress I've made so far on the work and how i got about it.
Here's my reference from a friend on Instagram @adedotvn

Making this drawing has been so much fun being that it's my first time of trying out a two in one portraiture and also my first time of using a full sized cardboard; though there were challenges such as getting the proportions right and maintaining a good level of paitence, I'm glad that so far I've been able to scale through the hurdles.
The inspiration behind this drawing is the look on the child's face..... looking at her, i saw a some sort of weariness, a considerable level of responsibility and so much pity; so i thought "perhaps i could lend her something close to boldness, maybe change the setting of her face so she'd be strong, stand firm and keep up with the journey ahead"

Talking about the process, I started by making my sketch with a 2b pencil this is to ensure that I avoid unnecessary errors, then i proceeded to making the details on the hair using my usual cross hatching technique; this can be achieved by simply double-crossing your lines; take to heart that it's not just about making the lines, but also paying attention to your tonal gradation; this has to do with areas which should receive the highest level of light and those with a lower concentration of light.
Here's the first progress shot.

For the second stage, i proceeded to shading the face and bringing to light other facial features while looking out for the places with lower concentration of tones...... Looking at the face, you may notice that it's not thoroughly blended; however, I'd decided to work on that much later as part of the final finishing; I would share that in the second part of this series.
Satisfied with the result, I made a go for the neck and a part of the shoulder

That done, i settled for the hands.
I must admit making the hands was a bit challenging as i had to be extra careful with my shades nevertheless, it was worth the pain and i would say that's all for now....
Stay tuned cause I'll be posting the second series of this drawing to explain it's final process. Thanks for reading and please leave your comments, questions and contributions...... They'll be appreciated.

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