Monk - WIP 1

I began a new drawing. It is called 'Monk'.
The paper I use is Canson (r) Drawing Paper (180 g/m2).

At this stage I probably already spent 3-4 hours. I started with a rough outline using a soft mechanical pencil.

After that I began shading with a H2 in small circles, overlaying crosshatching and blending it with a Kleenex (no oil!). I applied 2-3 Layers with this technique. Blending it with a Kleenex.

With a kneaded eraser I pulled out some of the highlights.

I sketched roughly the eyes and shaded them with a 9B. The iris was slightly filled with charcoal, as well as the bottom of the top eye lid.

I overlayed a few more layers with 2B blending it again. On the right side of the face, where the shadow will be I repeated this step around 3-4 times with a 9B.

John WIP 10

I tried to go darker and adjust the overall values. Also the skin was made 'dirtier' and I worked on the beard.

John WIP 9

I couldn't leave him alone as I originally intended and so here is the new version.

John WIP 5

This is how he currently looks. I guess I have to leave him at this stage for a couple of days before I can decide how to continue.

About the Blog

I started this blog to have a place where I can collect my drawings.

Recently I picked up the pencils again and started drawing. Earlier in my life I used to draw a lot, but I never got comfortable drawing people. Especially portraiting still seems to be a form of art that is hard to master.

Why I chose pencils?

They are cheap, quick and lead to amazing results.

I mean hey, just check out websites like J.D. Hillberry's or Armin Mersmann.

Doesn't this make you also want to grab your pencils? Well it at least inspired me to do so!

So ... hm yeah this is what I want and what I will blog about here. Since I don't think that there will be any visitors I wonder why I write like this ... but does it matter? No :)

John WIP 3

This is what he currently looks like. I admit I was very scared of drawing the beard, but it actually turned out that I am quite happy with it. Of course it is not finished yet :D

John WIP 2

John WIP 1

Unfortunately I didn't scan 'John' before this step.


I started drawing the basic outline and added a soft shading, blended with a blending stump.
The scan has very bad quality so you cannot see the outline (apologizes for this - I'll work on that ;) ).

John

Currently I am working on a portrait of 'John'. This is at least what I call him.

The original picture



The photograph is taken by Lukasz Dunikowski.
He released it here under the Creative Commons license.

This is what Lukasz states:

I spent half an hour wandering around railway station and finally spotted this man on the market square in Krakow. I couldn't make myself to talk to him and ask him to pose. I felt so embarrassed. I followed him for 20 minutes, watching him begging for money, taking food out of trash cans, waiting for the right time. Finally asked him to pose for me and he agreed.
He said he is homeless for last 12 years and an alcoholic too and that he used to be a commando.

I do not want to exactly 'copy' the picture. My intention is, next to developing my pencil/portraiting skills, to draw my impression of him as being more melancholic than 'worn out'.

I will try to post work-in-progress pictures on this subject on a frequent basis, as I proceed with the drawing.

Creative Commons

All of the pictures posted here are released under the Creative Commons license.

I listed the official version below.

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I'll try my best to not release any work of others that are not released under the CC. If you find any work that does not match this feature please email me or comment in the blog. I will as soon as possible take care of it.

Thank you!

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