Sketching Rembrandts Portrait of an Old Man - in Charcoal - Original content for Steemit

Firstly, the paper is Rising Stonehenge in Cream (the yellow was kinda hard to photograph, camera kept wanting to balance it white). It's a 100% cotton fibre paper at 245 gsm. I had this paper amongst the shelf i keep my papers on but hadn't used it before so I thought i'd try it out. It handles differently to other cotton papers like Strathmore, doesn't feel as tough and gets a bit 'fluffy' but that also helps in creating a nice smokey 'sfumato' effect. I think i'll get some more of this paper and try to improve my technique on it. It's usually listed as a 'print makers paper' and commonly used for etchings & ink work.
For the pencils, I just used a standard 6b General's Charcoal pencil and a paper towel, also a bit of white charcoal for some highlights.

These first two photos show how i sat there wondering how to start. Those first few marks are the hardest to make, especially if your coming off a week of 'bad drawing'. It was a rough beginning - i almost made the mistake of trying to outline too much detail around the eye. I had to remind myself to ignore the detail and just block in the shadow masses. Once that was done, it all started to flow.

Next i wanted to get the eye in place, the whole drawing revolves around that eye and the expression in the face. Most of the portrait is in shadow or under fluffy hair so that eye was my anchor point to build the drawing out from.

Thank You!