Just Playing Process

 In the original photo the girls were playing with face paint for the first time. I started with the intention of adding it, but once I got into the details of the faces I liked it too much without the paint.
The paint did make it much more difficult to see the shadows and details in some areas of their faces.
For the start of it I just very loosely added Ampersand black ink with a brush, let it dry, then started scratching out details bit by bit. This was after enlarging the photo to full size and tracing it onto the Claybord. I don't try to draw images onto the boards any more. I know how to draw, but would rather spend my time doing the scratching.
In this last one I was reinking to make the cheek shadows darker and being frustrated by the blotchy texture after I had it so smooth. I almost went to buy an airbrush, but decided to give it one more try. Using the scalpel and a VERY light touch I was able to smooth the skin, keep the darks, and not buy the airbrush. I used very soft short lines and stippling.