Hello friends.

 I figure if you're going to be on Steemit you need to be posting about and doing stuff that you enjoy doing. For me it is doing art, but I think even more than **doing** the art, I enjoy **teaching** art.  Which leads to the series I am titling:

<center><h1> Learn Art with Me</h1></center>

Each series will show step by step pictures (and later video) of the processes that I take.  *This is definitely a work in progress.* ***And I would love to get any feedback in the comments below; suggestions, ideas, etc.***

I fully believe that ***anyone*** can learn to draw/paint, etc. It just takes some instruction and practice.

In the future I will post my contour drawing on here, which you can then download and transfer to your paper so you can follow on on the exact same drawing I am doing and use the exact same techniques that I am teaching. Unfortunately, I apparently failed to take a picture of the base drawing, and so I can't do that for this one (like I said, this series is a work in progress!).

First, I want to show where we will end today:

![11r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPY6ZQt89nAnEwxpj5JE61s1hBfAtKhwEnuuFGvchYTr1/11r.jpg)

Although I couldn't provide the base drawing this time, here is the reference photo:
![12.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaogZkBt2u1qy23Ae74M7Ah6xRYLwFexxZPBBYk2ejBo5/12.png)

We will be working on the right eye first. 

Here are the materials that will be used:

~ .3mm Mechanical Pencil
~ Blending stump
~ Kneaded Eraser
~HB, 2B, 6B pencil

![aa.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcenS4oZCGMTR2twmA8GyUgNLTNwz2NzmwdraKdW3Zas3/aa.jpg)

The first thing is to create a clear contour drawing of whatever it is you want to draw. You can freehand it, use a grid, tracing paper, whatever you want to do and however you want to challenge yourself.

![3r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcepxqSjWEhpusoqMGaopAzC2MRzHfrWanzgSZAaFLtX6/3r.jpg)


First I am picking out the dark shadows and placing them in:
![4r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXKhU8mLZN5rUiv6aRjt1GYLkLxioVZoLQ9FBtKWWY28V/4r.jpg)


Next I am placing in some of the midtones; notice that I haven't done any shading or blending upto this point:
![5r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeo7ZTGzKswDrLr9DidygX7z3pvZuedFN84GK8uWYAtLF/5r.jpg)


After doing some slight shading with the blending stump (sorry forgot the picture on that one) I take my kneaded eraser and pick up some highlights; I am really just dabbing the eraser, as opposed to "rubbing" it on the paper. 
![6r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmewLyeDho71fs6TaYcNZ7yv1pPwdwFcE8iXW9y16fFE18/6r.jpg)

I take the mechanical pencil and I dot the iris to create some texture:
![7r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdtEzZkFFUJ4ZSRnrty8YHPjftmFvhsWMqVmtQwzsqvXX/7r.jpg)

Closer look:
![8r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWVzxF4UPg8U1Qc1mDCDCaT3cwLByrxu3cy9XXrCvF9jy/8r.jpg)

I blend it in with the blending stump. I'm not terribly worried about the shadows and highlights at this point, right now I am working on building some layers. 
![9r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYK1c9ePVghEbK6pfCgeqfKmg3s8DpKEpCt654uAnHvJR/9r.jpg)
Now I go back and I pick some of the graphite up with the kneaded eraser again, notice that the highlights are back:
![10r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmX5xq5H22syudnxmtegv7scUGWTC7YFLwYKPS1nXnuPQX/10r.jpg)

I dot some more with the mechanical pencil (just creating another layer) and I go back in and I use the blending stump to blend the darker areas together and you can see that it instantly makes the highlights in the eye standout more because of the stronger contrast:
![11r.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPY6ZQt89nAnEwxpj5JE61s1hBfAtKhwEnuuFGvchYTr1/11r.jpg)

This is where I am leaving off today, but we will work some more on the eye and I will go even more in depth on my process and procedures in future posts, consider this post somewhat of a "pilot". 

I hope you enjoyed it and if you want to support this initiative of mine then please, upvote, follow, and resteem!

I appreciate every person who takes the time to look at my posts!!!

<h1><p>If you'd like to see more like this, please follow me <a href="https://steemit.com/@allstarrunner">@allstarrunner</a>!</p></h1>
<p><br /></p>
<h1><p>Please check out some of my other art:</p></h1>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<a href="https://steemit.com/art/@allstarrunner/darth-vader-watercolor">
  <img src="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://imgur.com/eiEA4Kz.jpg" alt="@allstarrunner" />
</a>
</td>
<td>
<a href="https://steemit.com/art/@allstarrunner/emily-didonato-portrait-graphite">
  <img src="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://imgur.com/OdwqLwI.jpg" alt="@allstarrunner" />
</a>
</td>
<td>
<a href="https://steemit.com/art/@allstarrunner/abstract-female-series-1-original-art-process-shots-inside">
  <img src="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://imgur.com/oOa2hpL.jpg" alt="@allstarrunner" />
</a>
</td>
<td>
<a href="https://steemit.com/art/@allstarrunner/queen-amidala-watercolor-and-ink">
  <img src="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://imgur.com/mBMbBbN.jpg" alt="@allstarrunner" />
</a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>