*EDIT*
I positively can NOT believe I won!!! Thank you so incredibly much!

I have never won anything like this before, and I honestly never imagined I even stood a chance against all those other AMAZING entries!

Thank you so much *gabbyd70! And thank you everybody else involved with the contest!!

Most of all though, I want to thank everybody who helped me with this piece by providing me with some extremely astounding feedback. Thank you everybody!!

Gah I'm so excited!!

*EDIT*
First, I want to thank everybody for all your INCREDIBLE feedback! You guys totally tore my drawing apart! But in a good way You all gave me such great advise, and for that I am superbly grateful.

On to the piece. I have taken everybody's tips/tricks/advice and touched up several things.

First, the most notable thing I did was greatly increased the contrasts throughout the drawing. I darkened his face immensely and added more texture. I added more texture to his hat, as well as darkened more of the left (his right) side.

I have darkened almost every deadlock, as well as given them a slight amount more texture. I evened out the values on the folds of his clothing, as well as attempted to lessen the overall amount of them, though not very successfully.

I darkened the background and increased some highlights in the hair on his left. Though I am now noticing I may have to darken the right (his left) background area. Right now he seems to have somewhat of a glow effect going on there.

The most notable thing, however, is that I darkened the shadows around his eyes. I hope this corrected most of the issues with them being places too far apart and one slightly higher then the other. I also changed the nose a tiny bit, increase the size of his right nostril slightly, and darkening the shadows around the nose as a whole.



Okay, now that I have revised several parts considerably, there are some new objects I would appreciate feedback on!

The main thing I want feedback on now is his face.

Is the lighting/contrasts/values correct throughout the face?

Are the proportions correct? If not, what would you recommend I do to correct them?

At this point, my main concern are his eyes. ANY feedback whatsoever on them would be EXTREMELY appreciated! Do you think the left (his right) still looks off? Would further darkening of the area around it help to fix the eye?

The only other feedback I would appreciate is on the mood, or feel of the piece as a whole. What do you feel the mood is? I was trying to go for more of a dramatic feel, like on of those "Jack Sparrow" dramatic type moments. Its a little hard to explain, but overall I was attempting to get a dramatic feel for the piece. If I did not succeed in this very well, or at all, what would you suggest I do to increase that feeling?

That's about it for now, if you notice anything else that you think needs revising again, or just anything in general, I'm always happy for feedback on that too!

Thanks again everybody, for everything, you have all been such a great help! Thank you for all your support as well! As a treat, free hugs and cookies for everybody!! *yay!*

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Well, one Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon later and... its finished! Mostly...

'Wherever we want to go, we'll go, that's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs... but what a ship is, what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom.'

Personally, I think this is my best work I have ever created. I learned so much during this, and had an incredibly great time. I love the labor of my work, and hope you do too!

This piece was rather tedious, but in a fun way. If I had to chose, I would say my favorite part of this piece to draw was his hair, namely his dreads. There is just something about them that was incredibly enjoyable .

There are several places where I feel I could have done better, but I'm fully satisfied with how they are. I kind of rushed the lower left portion of his clothing.

Materials Used
Mechanical pencils: HB 0.5, Tons of 2B 0.5, HB 0.7, HB 0.9
Pencils: 4H, 2H, F, HB, 2B, 4B, Tons of 6B, Tons of 9B
Kneaded eraser
Stick eraser
9" x 12" Velum bristol paper
Blending sticks
Tissue for blending
Reference image

Total Time
This piece, from start to finish, took me roughly 44 hours. Yes, FORTY-FOUR HOURS!

Reference - [link]

Work In Progress's
WIP 1 - [link]
WIP 2 - [link]
WIP 3 - [link]
WIP 4 - [link]
WIP 5 - [link]
WIP 6 - [link]
WIP 7 - [link]



Please Read This
Now, more then anything, I would EXTREMELY appreciate constructive feedback. Sure, hearing "omg thats awesome!" is great, but I would rather hear WHY you like it (or hate it) then these types of comments! So, here is what I would like feedback on:

The nose.
This part has been a problem section from the very start. I feel I still have not correctly captured this object. I would like feedback on whether or not you think it is correct. If you think it is incorrect, then please tell me how you think I can change it to MAKE it correct.

The Lighting
I would like feedback on how you think the lighting is composed. Do you consider the piece to have highlights, as well as shadows, in the correct places? Are the highlights bright enough? Are the shadows dark enough? Is the lighting continuous throughout the piece?

Hair
I would appreciate feedback on whether you think the hair looks portrayed correctly. Do his dreadlocks look correct? Are they detailed enough? Does his hair look correct? Do you think I could have changed something to make it look more realistic? Hair has been a MAJOR issue for me in the past. I am still learning how to correctly draw realistic hair, so I would greatly appreciate feedback on this object. I also would like feedback on his facial hair. This part also caused me a great amount of grief. Is there anything I can do to change this to make it more realistic?

Background
Do you think the background adds to the piece? Are the dark parts dark enough, and the lights light enough? Is there anything I could have done differently or change?

His Hat
His hat I am actually very proud of. What I would like feedback on is do you think I got the textures correct? What I mean by this is does it look rather old and ratty? Like his hat is supposed to look.

Textures
I would like feedback on whether you think I correctly captured all the textures in this piece. Does his skin look like skin? Does his clothing look like clothing? Things such as that.

Everything Else!
I would appreciate feedback on anything else you can think about. Do you see something that you think should be changed? If so, what do you think I can do to change that? Does something look wrong? If so, what is it? What do you think I can do to correct it? Anything you can think of!

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I can't begin to tell you all how much I appreciate your great feedback and support! I want to dedicate this piece to everybody on my Watchers List. You guys and gals are what keep me trucking, through thick and thin your support always gets me through it! THANK YOU!!

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I will be entering this in *gabbyd70's 5 Themes Contest. Wish me luck!

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Thanks again everybody for all your continued support! And remember I would MUCH prefer constructive comments verses the "omg awesome!" comments!

Oh and if you actually read all this, then here is a cookie! Thanks for reading it all!

Thanks again, for the umpteenth time!

~Dylan Johnson
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Art (C) *SketchBookStyle
Jack Sparrow (C) Disney