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.