Drawing Update: Watching Passing Clouds

Finally got a little time away from some work obligations to get back to the drawing.

I’m just roughly setting the values at this point around the figure to get a feel for the range I’ll be working with. I’ll leave the background for later. That area will be mostly dark, so I don’t want things to get messy right now.

The stick of charcoal I used was a large piece about 5 inches long. I also used an empty squeeze bottle to blow the powder away, which is better than blowing from my mouth. I work flat on a table so the powder doesn’t fall where I don’t want it. This illustration board picks up grease easily from my fingers, so I have to be careful not to touch the surface.

New Drawing Started: Watching Passing Clouds

I made this quick sketch of a friend as she lay back on a hillside gazing at clouds, and also snapped a few reference photos with her cellphone. This will become a new charcoal drawing.

Later, I digitally enlarged the sketch and printed it out to scale (20 x 16″,) and then taped the pieces together. I rubbed some charcoal on the back, and transferred the drawing to a sheet of illustration board. Next comes the fun part…