The Story Behind the Image

Yesterday, I posted about Elizabethan poet, John Donne. Every blog post needs an image. Here is the story behind the image on that post.
I considered some of the images of John Donne, but decided it was too boring just to grab something off the 'net; anyone can do that! Instead, I used one of the online images to draw my own portrait of him.

I did a Google image search and found lots of images of oil paintings. Among the many that have Donne depicted with an annoying pointy beard and a poncy lace collar, I found this picture:

Source
In this painting, he looks less like an historical figure and more like a real person.
(It irked me that the image had no credit. I searched for it, but couldn't find it easily, so left the searching for later. After I'd done the drawing I eventually found this image in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection

Source
As you can see, the version I drew from had been reversed! Let that be a lesson, kids: authenticate your subject before you put all that work into it!)

Anyway, this is the picture I liked, so I started with these materials: an A5 visual journal, a mechanical pencil (because it always has a sharp point) and a putty eraser (because it never damages the paper).

The first thing I do is a bit of an outline, to get everything in proportion (as far as I can - this is the bit that gives me the most trouble).

Once the outline is drawn, I switch to a normal pencil. Depending on how dark I want the base tone, I could use anything from an H to a 2B to scribble all over it.

This provides a base tone that isn't harsh white. There's no problem lifting some of the shading off with the putty eraser if it's too much in places, or if I want to bring out highlights.

With a 2B pencil, for the first bit of detail I add in, I always find myself gravitating to the eyes.

This is my favourite bit - one minute it's inanimate paper with a few lines on, the next it is peering back at you. With those few marks, the portrait comes to life, watching and judging!

Then... great, I have a visitor.

Of course, once I get one visitor, the other isn't far behind.

After drawing in the detail, I switch to a darker pencil, usually a 6B or 8B to bring out the darker parts of the drawing. At this stage, with the details and a good amount of shading, my camera started picking up the drawing as another face.

That made me happy.

From there, it's just shading until I stop. At this stage, I'm always paranoid that I'm going to mess it up. Eventually, I tell myself to stop fiddling, it's done.

And that's the story behind the image.

• All photographs are my own original work, except where the source is linked underneath the image.