This drawing was the result of a disastrous mistake that happened while I was drawing it. I never meant to draw this picture. In the end, I kind of like the frenetic look of it.
I started out drawing a character from the film “The Hudsucker Proxy”. If you remember the film, it was the little curmudgeonly guy that gives Norville Barnes the “Blue Letter” in mail room. (“It’s a BLUE LETTER!”) Anyways, it all started out good. I drew the contours of his face lightly with graphite. Then, I had this bright idea that I would try to spread a kind of charcoal wash over the entire background before outlining the details. I thought, since I was using vine charcoal, that I would be able to wipe the charcoal across my paper and sort of still see my graphite contour lines underneath. Boy, was I wrong. I spread the charcoal over the paper and my drawing completely disappeared.
I tried to salvage the image but realized that I wouldn’t be able to recreate the drawing that existed underneath. So, I decided to throw caution to the wind and I began adding charcoal in mass quantities. It got pretty messy and I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to get it to a place that I felt good about. Eventually, a face began emerging and I followed the momentum. I like the way it looks now. It kind of reminds me of a frame from a William Kentridge animation, which is really too heavy of a complement. William Kentridge is eons beyond me at this point. I recommend watching some of his films if you have the chance. They are amazing.