best one so far I think... my only complaint is the ear...

Very nice Aldo....doing better and better...this neck looks very well...Great face features...
Tu tío Carlos

i like the effect in the metal, i like it +8

Beautiful subject! However, i find it a little bit flat, especially in the face. I think it would help to make it more volumnous if you use a kneaded eraser and little up some of the graphite, it would make the ear stand out less as well cause right now it's the lightest part of the whole picture. The ears awesome seem a little unfinished. Did you use a ref. pic?

Not bad! Why is only the ear hitgligted, though? A kneaded eraser would work nicely.
Good work, by the way!

oh wow! This really is your best one yet. Really beautiful and realistic without forsaking raw pencil strokes.

she doesnt look african. her face looks far to western for that. image looks a slight bit unfinished.

ou dificult pose nice rendering

very nice pose
good work ...

Wonderful!! Your best Work!!! +10/10

Great Work Aldo!!

cool, I like the nose and the ear ring

It's quite flat, I am afraid. There is some attempt to crosshatch, but in most places you've not used the technique's benefits: you "crosshatched" everything into even tone, with a few shadows which are by far not enough to sefine the form. There's no light here whatsoever; I don't count the inexplicably bright ear on uniform midtone with no other highlights and precious few shadows as light. (Why the ear? What is supposed to make it so bright, or so important that you made it stand out?) The face is flat, the neck is shapeless - the worst part of it is the neck. This is not acceptable, really.

If you made this from a photo, next time pick a photo with some clearly defined lighting, so you can practice rendering form properly. Better yet, study form without photos, so you can find it even if the lighting is poorly defined. Get Loomis's "Drawing Head and Hands" if you want to work on portraits, it will help.

(BTW, this looks more a European face, not African.)

To arenhaus (my best friend) LOL
I dont think that face look european, just for the tone not seem to be.

U are getting better Medrano I realy see improve =D
U could add more hatching to get more mood especially on body
yeah strong lighting could add more shape, but no is all.
Yes Loomis is a great reference, try to read all his books,
I always recomend it, those about faces, bodies n ilustration.

Great stuff.
keep this up Medrano.

Thank you for your comments, they are very helpful and Eduardo and arenhaus I will look into loomis thanks a lot!!

I agree to Eremita nicely done, bravo.
Full marks from me

I´m all for seeing pencil strokes and texture in pencil work (unlike the rather boring"smudge" technique), but I think in this case your strokes are not helping define the structures -that is aside from the fact you need more variation in tones, as Arenhaus pointed out. For example, check the neck: you have a lot of diagonal top-right to bottom-left strokes, but an actual neck is basically cylindrical, and your lines are not following that shape. Don´t worry too much yet about the figure looking a certain way - think more about structure and light now. Keep it up.

Wow. The detail and sharpness is striking! Lovely work Aldo!! Wowww.

One of your best drawing to date my friend

I see your improvement. Your rendering of her jewelry is wonderful. Not sure about the effectiveness of crosshatching in this case, would've gone for a more flowing buildup of pencil-lines.

nice composition  Medrano!
frew crits, more work on her ear and a little spotlights on her body and face.

I like it very much!

whoah...........

Medrano very nice work

ho my Aldo this is very nice

Thank you so much guys!!!

nice image .... thie hard line on the top of the ear and the shadowing on the back part of her head bothers me ... but over all I like it.

I love the earring...

YOUR WORK IS EXCELLENT!!!!! Congratulations!!!

Wow! I love the shading on this piece. This has great texture and feel to it. Great job!

I Like this work !!!! +10

Don't like the shadows inside and outside the earring. Doesn't look natural. But who am I to judge? . Very nice work, anyway.

very nice drawing...

I am sorry for not having stop by in a while... i just miss so many things couse there are troo many things to see so thank for stopping you by so I can remember !!! I do not see horrible mistakes here.... you are in the way of gettin better and better ..... parcticing is the best and improving consiously with determination is the best !!! Congratulations!