Here is drawing of Charlie Hunnam from late 2016. A slight sepia tinge due to the paper material. Done with Marco Raffiné pencils (2H-8B). Three hours per day in five days.
The 8B areas by right should be darker but at the time I was still using low-gsm weight paper. Most of the graphite wouldn't stick very well with the surface but I'm still satisfied with how the conturing turned out.
My favourite part about this drawing was the right eye. It had a nice highlight to it and I wanted to follow the reference photo as accurate as possible. It took four tries to get it right and I have to say I'm proud with the results. My experience in making portraits taught me that getting the small white highlight near the pupils just right is important to make the portrait look as realistic as possible (depending on the reference image of course).
The hair was challenging because in the reference photo it was neat and combed. To properly blend the light and dark parts I repeatedly did single strokes until there were enough hair fibers that shading became easier. The highlights on the beard was simply me leaving out the lighter parts and concentrating where the shadow is darkest on the chin. Then lastly adding individual dark strokes on said lighter parts to blend everything in
Planning to post some of my simpler sketches soon when I have time!