After yesterday's drawings I wanted to give this exercise another go but this time using a pure, 8B, graphite stick. I found that the Mars Lumograph Black pencils weren't as 'smudgy' as I'd have liked and figured that pure graphite would be more ideal for this. I repeated the same process as yesterday but opted to start by drawing with my non-dominant hand (see photo below) instead of beginning with blind contour drawing. Both ways of drawing are fun and freeing. 

I haven't used a graphite stick to create an entire drawing with in a long time so it was interesting to see how I would get on. Like charcoal there's something quite primal about using this natural material in its bare state. Graphite sticks come in a variety of widths. I have a selection but today I used a really chunky one. I noticed it seemed to glide across the paper which allowed me to work much quicker and more spontaneous. 

Stage 1

Stage 2

With gestural movements I then loosely applied the main tones I could see on the reference photo. The broadness of the graphite stick really helped to cover more of the surface in a less amount of time.

Stage 3

As with yesterday's drawings, I used my plastic eraser to 'knock back' what I'd just done to leave a 'ghost' image of the drawing which creates atmosphere in the drawing. Just as I predicted the graphite was excellent at creating lots of 'smudge' when the eraser went across it, something that my pencils didn't really achieve previously. 

Stage 4

The final stage was then working back into the drawing to pick out the tones and some of the detail. 

If I was to draw in this way again, I'd definitely use a softer material such as pure graphite or charcoal. I'm glad I gave it another go using something different to see how the result would change.