So very different from the 'usual'. I really like this one. Not to mention the different color quality. I wouldn't dispair the hair, you did a fine job in this one. (I read your journal) One thing to remember is that it doesn't have to be exact...(now i have to practice my own preaching...lol) Hair was a challenge for me at one time too!
Try working on it with drawings that don't mean that much to you, and just experiment with different techniques. Hair is mostly about highlights, shadows, midtones and shapes. Maybe its merely you are trying too hard, and can't 'see' it broken down?

Hope you see some success with it! It's such a large part of portraits. Unless of course you like Mr.Clean and Captain Jean-luc Picard alot?

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You might be an artist if you...

-everything you see can be reduced to shapes
-lighting is not just functional, its essential
-everywhere you look, a new piece is waiting to be drawn, sculpted, painted or photographed.
-are OCD about art
-daydream.

hehehe. I tried drawing a baldy, but I actually did a TERRIBLE job on it. >.< Hair is starting to become more fun for me. Little by little. I only have cheap ass mechanical pencils from the dollar store to work with so Every time I draw with them I end up getting those shitty straight lines (on solid "black" parts of the picture.) I think I'll take your advice and start some experimentation with it on pictures I care nothing about. ^_^ Thank you

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"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. " -Thomas Jefferson

I use Pental SUPER leads. Not sure about availability in the states. The mechanical pencils I use are Pilots, and usually come with Pental lead. I noticed a huge quality difference when I switched over. (The cheapy cheapy pencils break down often, I've had these same pilots for 2 years now!) Decent pencils make all the difference, so if you can slurge $3 for one instead of $1, its worth it. (I used to use the dollar store ones, I have dozens of leads here still ) I think I picked a set of 2 pencils with a 3 pack of leads over at Target once, which makes me think they should be available. Let me know if you can find some. (different grades though, my fiance orders through his office supplier at work, I'm still looking for more grades in mechanical as I really dislike standard wood pencils. So much sharpening and you never really have the tip you want for long enough.)

I'll hunt around online and see what I find. I'll drop you a note if I find a place that has decent stock. (Mechanical pencils are hard to find for some reason around here, ART stores don't have em, Craft stores don't have any variety and Office supply stores have tons but not many grades. Grrr)

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You might be an artist if you...

-everything you see can be reduced to shapes
-lighting is not just functional, its essential
-everywhere you look, a new piece is waiting to be drawn, sculpted, painted or photographed.
-are OCD about art
-daydream.

This is wonderful Heather love the pose too and some great advise from i'll use that too

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Try my Website here [link]

Sorry for being nosey and butting in, I tend to buy Mechanical pencils from the cheap stores over here they are all supplied with HB lead, so i only use the art stores to get the different leads, The other thing i find about wood pencils is that sometimes they have hard bits in that tend to score the paper too .....so sorry about jumping in but i was reading your advise and thought i would get some free too

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Try my Website here [link]

No worries Dabull! It's public and meant to be shared! There are tons of different varieties of pencils out there, and I won't say all the cheap ones don't hold up, but many fall short. I should have specified Leads..because with the cheap leads there is a difference in quality. Smoothness when applied to paper. Kinda like buying no name or school grade colored pencils..and then using Prismacolor..a world of difference!

Oh Redbrick, I did some searching online..the highest grade lead I found in Pentel comes in 0.5 only, a 4B. I'll keep looking about!

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You might be an artist if you...

-everything you see can be reduced to shapes
-lighting is not just functional, its essential
-everywhere you look, a new piece is waiting to be drawn, sculpted, painted or photographed.
-are OCD about art
-daydream.

Thank you ^_^ Yeah it is good advice.

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"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. " -Thomas Jefferson

Yeah I prefer mechanical as well. I used to use wooded pencils, but like you said you never get the tip you want for long enough, and when you sharpen you always run the risk that the tip's going to break off and/or the lead is going to break further down in the pencil and then you're spending a longer time trying to sharpen it to get back to where you have lead again. I just pushing on the eraser to get more lead and moving on. Quick and you won't break the lead just doing that. If you keep the lead out only a bit then you don't really run the risk of pushing to hard and breaking the lead.
I've got to check over the web for a set of decent mechanical pencils. >.< Thanks for the tip. I have been getting irritated with the cheap dollar general pencils. There seems to be a limit here lmao.

H.

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"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. " -Thomas Jefferson

You hit the nail on the head. That is EXACTLY why I dislike wood pencils. Let me know what you find!

--
You might be an artist if you...

-everything you see can be reduced to shapes
-lighting is not just functional, its essential
-everywhere you look, a new piece is waiting to be drawn, sculpted, painted or photographed.
-are OCD about art
-daydream.

I think i had to go to 0.7 and 0.9 to get the softer in mechanical leads The only wood pencils i like are derwent, which i tend to use for darker areas

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Try my Website here [link]