when you do it, always use protection... i like to keep my socks on!!!

when you work in pencil, you have to work as clean as possible. i find that old socks work great! you can cut out the elastic end to use over your hand and the remainder can be used to protect the rest of the portrait. the main reason that i do this is so i can still rest my hand on the paper for support without transferring the oils or dirt from my hand to the paper (heaven forbid that my hand should be dirty)  important to note; you still, even though protected, need to avoid contact with the graphite, it will smear. you will notice that in this picture, i have an extension... on the end of the pencil!!! i said in an earlier post that i would explain that when i was good and ready... well... I'm not!!!...
come back next time and i will show you a couple of ways to set up a line drawing... can you stand the excitement??!!