Okay, so now it's time to let the lights shine. I squint at the reference photos to determine where the light areas really stand out. Squinting makes it easier to recognize the tones as either light, middle or dark. Using an electric eraser, I begin by blocking out the areas that are going to be lighter. You'll notice that these are mostly small areas. In the following step, these will be softened to create a real sense of depth.
Now a kneaded eraser is used to gently soften the edges of the highlights, and lighten up larger areas. This often requires a good amount of push-and-pull, but the end result creates the illusion of depth that is vital to a pencil or charcoal sketch such as this...
Finally, some last minutes rendering of the darkest darks...and a fair amount of erasing to clean up the areas surrounding the character(s), and the sketch is complete. Oh, except for the signature, of course...
...and the notorious Dr. Phibes rises again, to be matted and framed in the den of a very happy client! Thanks again to Sketchy Things fan John Lee for his wonderful taste in subject matter!
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