Final drawing: “Hammerin’ Hank.” 15” x 10”. Pencil on paper.

***Hand-signed by Hank Aaron and me.***

I really enjoyed creating this piece because the image had so many great elements (good contrast, textures, shades, etc). The biggest challenge was drawing on this particular type of paper, which had a heavy grain texture and made it difficult to capture fine detail. Ultimately I had to come up with different techniques to capture these details, which was a fun learning experience!

Slow building up layers of shading. I always use really fine paper with minimal texture so I have the most control over the shading and where I add the details. This paper, however, is very coarse, which is not a texture that I’m used to working on. So, instead of carefully applying the details exactly where I want to them, I’m trying to utilize the natural grain of the paper to help render the texture of the skin. I’m learning as I go!