Homeless Man

This drawing of a homeless man was my submission for the 100 Neediest Cases project. I go to a lot of Blues games, and I always see the same person on the street in the same position. That’s what came to mind with this project so I tried to replicate that. 

The assignment is supposed to be completely original, so I staged a scene I could use for my reference photo. My dad dressed in loose-fitting clothes and I used a lamp to create the lighting I wanted. I worked through a lot of techniques. I tried doing cross-hatching but it didn’t make the folds look the way I wanted to, so I tried dots. I didn’t like that either. Eventually I got to these random lines. I kept practicing that and got it to where I liked it.

This piece was selected for the November 20 publication of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

Pen and dark colors really draw out the emotions in people and the dark side of these issues. I think the goal of using drawings like this is to touch people in a way that’s different.