Why did you choose this person to draw? What impact have they had on your life?

This is my sister, and I chose her because to me she was my closest friend and the person who understands me the most. At the same time, she’s also my biggest competitor and my biggest discourager, but in a way that’s good. Throughout my entire life living with her, she’s made me the person who I am, inspired me to keep going and fed me ideas whenever I ran out. Her competition towards me is the biggest reason why I strive to do my best, and her discouragements only make me want to do better than I can, on which I am thankful for because she has shaped me into who I am. She’s really been the one person that I can turn to each night and talk freely without judgement, and she inspires me in a way that she is my role model because she has accomplished almost all that I wish to accomplish.

How has drawing this person affected your admiration or respect for this person?  (Do you have a greater admiration or respect after drawing? Do you feel like you know more about this person i.e. facial features you never noticed before?)

I don’t have any specific change in admiration or respect to her after drawing her, mostly because I study her face every day, night, and morning.

Explain what allowed you to achieve success in your drawing?

For most of the time, I asked some experts for help or I simply stepped back and critiqued my work, seeing where things could be better. Every so often I would just stop, drop my pencil, and hold it from a distance next to the original and see what changes can be made. This way, I am editing and revising my work along the way, although that might take a lot of time.

What did using the grid transfer method allow you to do? Name 3 important uses

First, it helped me get the exact proportions and where exactly was a facial feature, e.g where the nose was. Second of all, it helped me grasp the size of a particular features, for example, I would use the grid to see and calculate how big her mouth should be or where her eye slants. The grid transfer method also allowed me to make sure my picture wasn’t slanted in any unusual way, because I have a tendency to draw slanted and the grid helps me straighten my drawings.

What areas of your drawing could have been improved?  

I think the biggest part I could improve is the mouth. To me, I had the most challenge with the mouth because I couldn’t find a way to make the teeth and lips realistic. In addition, it was hard to draw her teeth because they were slanted and sort of crooked, and I tried many times to draw it, but I feel like I still could do better. I also could’ve done better on making the portrait seem more 3D, because the drawing seems a bit flat and cartoon. I could especially improve on the shading for the skin and the hair.