Working on an eye at the moment.
I was hoping to get it ready before Christmas but I’m not gonna make it. I’ll finish it after the holidays.
Long covid makes me tired quickly and can’t focus long enough to make serious progress…
Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of the progress iv made 
Getting in the details now on the upper side which will take some time.
Looking great! I just did an eye in the “Subjects in Pen and Ink” and eyes are the only part of a face I don’t totally make a hash out of. Still, using cross hatching only doesn’t make for a super realistic eye, more of an illustration for an anatomy book type feel.
You can spend forever improving it, and it looks like you did that. Very realistic outcome! Can’t wait to see the final product!
The in between step images really show how a drawing can look a bit uncertain then come back together just fine with a bit more added on. I tend to draw entire thing then add details inward while others start with details and worked outward as you did. I always lose proportions when I try it that way.
I have a lot of practicing to do to get to that level, though I’ll be doing the pencil course once I finish the last two of “Subjects in Pen and Ink” which I’ve been working through for over a month. The last two are what I hate most because I suck - A Figure drawing and a portrait. So going to just give those a shot then go to a less organic shape so I can find proportions and curves easier . I like things with straight lines here and there I suppose, gives me an anchor to work out from, otherwise I need to do the grid work or projector trace for extent marking.
Thanks for your message.
It’s just very recently I started drawing realism, this is my second “bigger” drawing (a3). My first was a portrait 
And 2 smaller eyes in between that and this one.
I tend to dive in head first and learn along the way.
So I’m very much learning as you.
For this one and the portrait I followed a 10min video on YouTube to steer me in the right direction.
But cuz the speed of the video (10 hours into 10min) there’s a lot to figure out by yourself.
I like to learn like that.
I really wanna start making my own creations soon but I’m not yet at that point I feel… I will stay in the realism genre mixed with some horror elements maybe. Hope someday I can switch to oil portraits.
But honestly, 2 months ago I didn’t even know what paper I should use so… all in good time.
I’ll definitely check your drawing out! I made one ink drawing myself ( I think i posted it in the same topic as you) and i really like the medium. (when I made mine I never even heard of cross hatching and you can see that in the drawing)
For your portrait drawing I would recommend to try something you think it’s out of reach. You might surprise yourself if you spend the time on it. I spend nearly 12 hours on mine over several days and seeing it come together was so fun, especially with the water effect. (I’ll send a picture of that drawing)
It’s just a matter of following the steps and spending a lot of time on the details.
Good luck and I’ll keep an eye out for your work!
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Here’s my eye in the Pen and Ink subjects. Nowhere near realistic, but one of the better ones I’ve turned out. (IOW - It’s about the right shape and proportion instead of being mushed and warped)
Could have done better if I didn’t rush it so much with the hatching… And I thought I was going slow but not so much, can see it in the darted strokes.
Your “Wet” one is amazing! How did people do anything with pencils before Mono Zero erasers were invented?
Lol, now I wonder about that too 
It makes life so much easier…
Thanks for sending the drawing, I couldn’t find it on the topic page. It’s a clean drawing and the proportions look good. Do you draw in pencil first or straight in ink?
I do all pencil lines first, even half the hatching lines (or at least a shading where they should be more intense or less), then I go over them with ink and erase all the pencil with a gum eraser when the ink is dry. Those brown erasers really pull the graphite off good, though they’re a bit messy.
Even when covered in ink, the graphite comes free leaving the ink in the paper. It’s a good trick i learned in the pen and ink course.
The white vinyl erasers like the Mono zero smear a bit but work 95% good and don’t leave a mess, and the smearing erases as well. The brown gum erasers pull off all the graphite in a swipe or two but leave a trail of crumbs. The kneaded erasers I use to lighten up areas.
I use a drafting cleaning bag (kind of a knit bag full of gum eraser crumbs) for pencil smudge clean up, they are as messy as the brown gum erasers but take a lot of crap off (bit of pastel, some colored pencil, lots of graphite) without smearing anything (except pastel) like the kneaded erasers can do. Kneaded I use mostly when working with pastel, charcoal and a little with pencil.
The one thing I’ve learned most about drawing is erasing. 
