Graphite Portrait Tyrion Lannister(Peter Dinklage)

April is almost upon us, and with this month coming the final season of the acclaimed Game of Thrones series, it goes without saying that I'm a big fan and I've already seen my marathon from previous seasons while waiting for April 14, there are only 22 days left!!

For some months now, I've been thinking about portraying some of the characters in the series, and in view of the final season premiere I feel there's no better time to do it. The first in this series of portraits, is the iconic Tyrion Lannister played by Peter Dinklage, a character who sobers nicknames for lack of stature, but despite this has demonstrated his greatness and the value of his brain, giving us great strategies such as the explosion of the fleet of Stannis in Blackwater Bay, plus many others that I will not mention to avoid spoilers.

Materials:

Opalina Cardboard (21x28 cm)
Graphite pencils 4H, HB, 3B and 6B
Eraser
Blender and cotton
Approximate time: 19 hours

Reference Photography

Source

-Step 1:

In any portrait, the base is the sketch, which is why I have devoted a lot of time to capture the proportions of the face and reflect them on the paper with soft strokes.

-Step 2:

Once the sketch was finished, I went directly to the shaded and detailed, focusing mostly on the eyes, I always start from there because someone said they were the windows of the soul and was not wrong, because they reflect the personality or expression of each person.

-Step 3:

For the skin use the 4H pencil, as it releases a very soft amount of graphite and is very easy to fade with cotton. In the darker areas I have used the 3B and 6B and with the blur draw his scar.

-Step 4:

Tyrion's face is more hair than skin, so I have given a soft layer of graphite to the entire beard area, then trace the area of the moustache trying to denote each of the hairs, then go straight to the hair.

-Step 5:

If there is something I learned to admire after this drawing, it is Tyrion's curls because I spent a lot of time trying to emulate them as accurately as I could, the trick to draw them is to select each strand and delineate it, then start to shade and highlight the hairs where the light gives directly, if everything is very dark there is always the alternative to look for a very fine eraser and draw with light hair.

-Step 6:

After a kind of circular route I went back to the beard, where I applied a stronger layer of graphite with the 6B and then with a fine tip I drew all the hairs, darkening the intermediate areas and highlighting some other hairs with the eraser. I have given her clothes a rustic finish with the side of the pencil, in order to obtain contrast with the soft strokes of the face and hair.

I'll leave you a little gif with the whole process in it, so you can better appreciate the step by step.

_{Copyright @hadley4}