So this was done with a Rotring Isograph, a beautiful pen for architects. I love it because it has a refillable ink reservoir, making it cheap to run. To write with... actually pretty unpleasant since you need to use quite an unnatural angle for handwriting. Otherwise, a splendid pen which I gather isn't being made any more -- sad times.
I totally agree. The shading in this is a mess, a fix upon a fix upon a fix. Eventually I just had to make myself walk away and stop overworking it. Fortunately the lady depicted seems to have liked it!
My process isn't anything special. I work from reference photos, either that I've taken myself or else that a friend has sent me. I have it on my computer monitor and draw it from there. Usually I'm set up on a little desk easel in front of the monitor. I get the rough outlines down in mechanical pencil, and then ink using a dip pen and a bottle of India ink. All lines freehand, no tracing or rulers. Very controlled and processized, not a lot left to chance or mad flurries of excitement. And I'll usually have an audiobook on in the background.
So this was done with a Rotring Isograph, a beautiful pen for architects. I love it because it has a refillable ink reservoir, making it cheap to run. To write with... actually pretty unpleasant since you need to use quite an unnatural angle for handwriting. Otherwise, a splendid pen which I gather isn't being made any more -- sad times.