This requires sketches of facial features of all kinds from magazines, TV, real world, and the mirror, followed by a drawing of a whole head. Some of these are from an earlier exercise and included here to show, hopefully, progress.

Whole head. With apologies to Random Internet Man whose everything is so much better than this but especially his smile which is too horizontal and too narrow. I’ve tried to correct by firming up the facial creases and making them more angular but it is still the wrong shape, as is his nose which needs to be lower down on the right.

I believe you get nowhere if you don’t take risks and drawing someone of a different gender and age and also a different race while still grappling with drawing faces per se is probably qualifies as risky. I need to give this another go, maybe with a different medium, although I’ve been surprised at how fluid the Prismacolor pencils are on the black cartridge.

Second version. Prismacolor pencils again – these don’t erase so once applied, they stay put. I think the mouth is a bit better shaped, and the nose too, if a little lopsided. I’m really beginning to like how this medium works with black cartridge and I doubt the drawing would have been so colourful on white. I’m not sure why I chose black although there may have been an unconscious nudge towards a support that would not require me to ‘make’ black skin which I really don’t feel competent to do. The result has been something that permitted me to draw out the vibrancy of the man through colour if a little less so by accuracy of my marks. I don’t think I have any skill as a photorealist but I wouldn’t be too embarrassed if this man saw these efforts, which must be some kind of measure.