Mother and Daughter

I begin sketches like these with a “smear layer” on which I use a large pale brush to block in the composition without worrying about details. My main goal is to solve for the biggest forms in the image before I commit to them. Once I start making final lines, I can’t change those forms without significant reworking.

After making as many mistakes as I like on the smear layer, I use a narrower mid-tone brush to find the actual lines implied by the messy smears I’ve just put down.

Last is the detail layer. Having worked out all of the proportions and bounding lines in the previous layers, I focus entirely on textures, crisp outlines, and shading. This layer is done with the sharpest, darkest brush.