I’m highly familiar with graphite since it’s the medium I use the most. Charcoal, on the other hand, I haven’t used nearly as much. I thought using charcoal would be better for the darker tones and shadows, and graphite would be easier to shade with and erase to create highlights. The scribbles in the background were done intentionally to give the art some sort of feeling of sketchiness, which I also utilized to have some sort of contrast and variety in the drawing. I wanted to do something nice for my partner, which at the time of creating this piece was less than a month away. I drew a bunch of things in my sketchbook to get things like their head shape and hairstyle right, and even doodled them in my style a couple of times so I could really compare and get it right. In the end, I felt as if I did them justice, and I showed them the drawing and they really loved it, so I’m happy with how it ended up.