Drawing050Driveangry

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.