This collection of works was never meant to be a series, but I ended up realizing I enjoyed graphite too much to just complete one. I had finished my exploration of oil paints and wanted to move to a more solid medium. I had attempted to do a portrait before, but I wanted to try again because I was unsatisfied with my first iteration of it plus it had been a couple years. I immediately found my love for graphite because I enjoyed the solidity of it. I either made the portrait look like me or I didn’t. With paints, it can go either way, but with a monochromatic color palette, plus a yearning to draw realistically, this project made me happy because it satisfied these cravings.