Hi Rosemarie! So you’ve started with pastels, eh? Good!

When I need to transfer a drawing to sanded papers, I use pastel to fill the backside of the drawing, smearing it out and into the paper with a finger. I find Unison pastels work great for this. Then I put this over the sanded paper, and trace the lines on the front of the drawing. Don’t push too hard, or you will create grooves in the sanded paper. I trace with a pen or pencil which is of another colour than the drawing, so I know which lines I’ve already transferred.

The reason I use pastels for the back, instead of charcoal, is that I think the pastel gives a much sharper line, while the charcoal gets very smudged. Don’t use a grainy pastel, for example a rich earth colour.

Colour of the pastel? Anything I don’t use much and which will be a contrast to the colour of the sanded paper.

Having said all that, I also must say I do it rarely. Usually I paste a psd-file with a grid onto the reference photo, and then I grid the paper in the same way. I sit by the computer and use the grid to draw the relevant lines onto the paper. I find that gives a less stiff look, and it is easier to make changes.

Can you post the image in question? In general, it should be easier to draw freehand if you’re doing it right. Make a note of some key points on the image. The best way I can describe it is making a mental constellation, paying attention to the angles and distance between points. I find this to be more accurate than tracing, because if you trace it’s easy to be off by the width of your pencil tip or more, plus the sheet can move or you miss important lines and exaggerate the unimportant, which can really look terrible.

Edit: this is a live class? oh, I’m a bit confused. Maybe colorix’s advice is best, if that doesn’t work for you then I suggest dotting out the key points like I said, it’s really fast and easy to adjust.