Graphite Portraits

about my technique:

Well, portraits are portraits. If you don't like drawing people, you probably won't want to do them, lol.

I try not to use an eraser when I do them, just as a personal challenge. It doesn't always happen that way, but I try. I also choose not to use blending stumps when doing pencil portraits, I gradually darken areas with each pass until I feel like they are correct.

I will say that working from black and white photos will help immensely. It will help you to see the gradation between shadow and highlight much better, as colored shadows and highlights don't always translate to black and white the way we think they will.