Hello, I'm Mervi!
An artist, nerd and business sorcerer, dedicated to make world more beautiful and strange with art, illustrations and logos + to help you figure your sustainable business out.
I started with a photo. I found it some place online, a photo of a nice braid. I took the idea from it, the wholeness of the picture. I outlined it, drew basic guides on where the hair would fall. Then I added the first layer, just strands of hair, lots of them, with a hard pencil. I smudged all of it with a blending stump and then I took a softer pencil. I sharpened the pencil and draw the second layer of strands. I blended that layer too, and went for my eraser pencil. Yes, it is an eraser, but cased as a pencil. Great for detailed erasing. I erased strands, bigger areas, adding light and shape to the hair. I added more shadows with a soft pencil, some with a harder. I used blending stumps to soften the edges. I added, removed, blended, added, removed and blended, until I had my desired amount of layers, lights and shadows.
BRAID IV - pencil illustration at Society6