Le Vieux Fermier

I begin the drawing by attempting to locate and lay in the major shapes — which was somewhat difficult in this drawing, due to his crouched stance and the way that his clothing draped and concealed the forms of his anatomy. I tried to focus on the movement of the major lines and how they might reveal the tension in his posture, thinking very abstractly about the shapes that I was seeing in his clothing. I had a bit of difficulty getting this right, and in fact I would have to go back and fix some things later on…

I’m feeling sort of OK here about what I’ve got as a starting point, but as I start to define the areas of light and dark and start to lay in some of the anatomy of the face and hands, I’m feeling that some things just aren’t quite right. The head is too big for starters, and I’m not sure I’ve got the angle of the head right either…I’m going to have to fix these issues before I move on! I’m happy with the start I have for the hands however — I know that the hands will have to be depicted well for the drawing to work so I’ve concentrated on simplifying the shapes of the fingers into blocks first, and then starting to form the anatomy around those blocks…

OK, so I’ve fixed the head, rethinking the size and angle in relation to the rest of the body and I’m much happier with it…phew! However, I’m starting to realize now that this drawing is going to be a LOT of work so I’m gearing up for the long haul. There’s a lot of cool details in the hands and face that really help to tell the story, and I’m concerned about how I will create a strong focal point without having the drawing seem too “busy” with all the details. I know that the background will be important in creating contrast to help guide the viewers eye, but I’m also thinking that the drawing might need another element to help with the “story” — I think I’m going to add the mortar into the drawing somewhere to help with that, but not quite sure just where to put it yet…

In this step, I’ve decided on the location of the mortar in the drawing, but I’ve realized that this is one more element that could detract from the focal point if I’m not careful; I’ll have to carefully push it into the background. I’m also going to have to start working on the background in order to tame all these elements! It’s a push and pull process: darkening one area, lightening another area until it just “feels” right and that the focal point becomes clear. Also here, I’m working up to my full value range and determining where the darkest darks will go,and where the areas of highest contrast will be. And, continuing to refine the shapes and render the anatomy, jumping from one area to another so that the drawing gets developed as a whole and doesn’t end up feeling disjointed. Man, a lot of challenges!!