Ah the good ‘ol bargue method. I really enjoyed this type of process to learn with. Your study looks really nice but in response to your request of getting rid of that “scratchy” look the solution requires much patience. First, I’d advise you to continuously sharpen your pencil if you’re not working with mechanical. For me personally, I like to shave off some of the wood of the pencil and expose more of the lead to which I use a square of fine sandpaper to make a longer tip. I sharpen a few pencils at a time so I don’t have to stop as often to re-sharpen just one. The way I’ve had the subtle style of shading described to me is to “tickle” the paper. I like to use 4H-2H for the shading and I just very lightly work with the pencil. However, you’ll notice that in some areas (no matter how even you think you’re pressing) the graphite likes to lay dark here or light there and it creates a splotchy look which is maybe what you’re referring to. Unavoidable in my experience, as the graphite lays how it lays in the particular spot of paper. However, my way to combat this is to use a kneaded eraser. Pinch and roll it between your fingers to produce a very small “alien finger” (as one of my instructors so lovingly described it) and to gently poke away those disturbances. Then to once again use your finely sharpened pencil to continue matching the tone. It’s often a give and take with the pencil and eraser, I am constantly going back and forth with them, so much so that I keep both in my hands at all times during this stage. It takes a long time to do this, which makes you appreciate just how much work it takes. I’ve spent over a month working almost every day for several hours on bargues. Even if 100% baby bottom smooth isn’t what you’re trying to achieve, learning to work with both eraser and pencil gives you the ability to work with more control, it’s not all about using a pencil. Also, as a side note, keep a light touch with the contour, especially during the beginning when you’re ‘mapping out’ the proportions and getting all the information in. This makes it easier to erase without leaving “ghost” lines that detract from the end product. I’d focus on making the contour subtle and more of a transition so it’s not looking so much like an outline. However, if the Bargue your copying has that distinct contour then ignore what I said! In my experience for these exercises you’re really trying to get it as exact as possible, training you to see the difference in subtleties of line, shape, and form. When you bounce your eyes back and forth from your drawing to the Bargue there should be as little differences as possible. All in all, very nice work here. These Bargue copies are very difficult and time consuming but well worth the time in my opinion.

I'm not a pro and I don't know your reference so take it with a grain of salt: usually, the bridge of the nose is indented and then the nose sticks out. This comes from my biology point of view - the two sides of the scull-bones meet in the middle and that is the low point of the brow-ridge - in case you wanted feedback on that as well. I don't know much about the paper problems; you have probably already tried different softness of the pencil...

I second what @Gabriel Kahn said. If you want help with this it is well worth checking out @Dorian Iten 'Light and Shading' course. It doesn't cost much and he gives great feedback. He has a module in there specifically about this subject that is very helpful. He's also a really cool guy and a great teacher

Hey David! Amazing work! @Stephen Bauman 's artwork heavily utilize core shadows, I think you should focus on that a bit more. Core shadows are usually the darkest shadows on the form and they are right on the border between the light and shadow. Similarly to the ambient occlusion, no reflected lights travel there.

Hi David, I think you would need to apply more layers on top to even out the tone. I figured that softer leads have a tendency to follow and pronounce the structure of the paper. I go over these rough patches with a harder mechanical pencil. (H2 and 0.5mm) Very lightly and try to fill the holes. That helps to even out the tone some way. Here is an example of another Barque plate. You still can see the grain and in some places the main direction of the strokes, but overall the tones are even. (now that I look at it, I see more places where I could have put in more work...:) Hope that helps.

Hi David, the paper has great influence on the textural outcome of the shading. I believe the Strathmore 400 series has a quite toothy texture which propably shows in your shading. Maybe try a smoother paper and check if you can achieve a less textured appearance of your drawing. For graphite maybe try Canson Mi-Teintes and for charcoal Fabriano Roma or a hotpressed watercolor paper. Other than that I really like your drawing. - Philipp

One thing is they recommend to keep your pencil lines in the same direction when shading (I can't tell if you did this here). You could also try a blending stump. But overall, I don't think it looks that bad. I think often when we're creating our own drawing we're hyperaware of every flaw.