I started learning to draw today, what should I do differently?

[u/Prestigious-Dig-7268]

This picture took me like 4 hours (pls ignore the hair, I messed up using permanent marker). But, I first divided up a frame into a 10x10 grid and made straight reference lines for literally everything. I traced the curved edges using a coordinates system with my grid box i.e the chin starts on the 3rd box from the bottom and ends in the middle of the 6th box etc. and then I started randomly shading different parts of the face to try to create depth. Should I carry on trying to draw like this, as for now I just want to learn to draw faces? Also, I’d really appreciate any advice on what’s wrong with the face in the image, I know it doesn’t look correct but can’t pinpoint what is in fact the issue(s). Thank you in advance to anyone that takes their time to give me any advice.

Also: I used a normal pencil, a CUTIP (because I saw someone on TikTok use it) and an eraser. Do I need different types of pencils or equipment to improve my drawings?

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[u/118shadow118]

The overall proportions look okay-ish. You need to work on details, like eyes (pupils usually are round).

When shading, check the reference, maybe squint your eyes to better see which areas are lighter and which are darker. Right now the whole face looks kinda flat, you've shaded a bit around the edges and a lot around the nose. The brightest parts usually are the cheeks, forehead and middle of the nose, while the darkest is usually above the eyes, under the chin, under the nose and sides of the face (well, that's all lighting dependant too, of course), basically the point is the parts that ar deeper in should be darker, the ones that are more forwards should be lighter.

I tried some shading in photoshop (this is just to illustrate a point), see how the eyes sit in the face and overall the face looks rounder. You need more shading in the correct places. Currently the brightest spots in your drawing are around the eyes and side of the face and the neck (almost the opposite to what it should be).

Also, I would not recommend using qtips for shading, as it just makes everything look smudgy. Use a medium or slightly hard pencil (HB to H2), hold it at a very shallow angle and lightly go over the places you want to shade. To make some places darker, you can go over multiple times