THE FIGURE IN SPACE (AND DARKNESS)

For this drawing, the goal was to consider an imagined figure within the darkness of the shaded canvas, and sketch the character by erasing, thereby "etching" the form of the figure out of the darkness. The inspiration for a drawing like this (since I rarely leave my comfort zone) is Francisco Goya, and the lighting he creates in his etchings. I think the goal I was shooting for was something like the picture below, where the main female figure is the bright spot in a haze of darkness. 

I wasn't quite as refined with the eraser as he was with an etching tool, so I had to sort of blot out certain parts of the page with my eraser, and then return with a sketching pencil to give the character definition. Unfortunately, the way I shaded the page was foolish - I used a charcoal pencil to haphazardly draw zig zag lines across the page. I figured these would wash out when rubbed with a paper towel or even my own fingers. Unfortunately, they are there to stay. So now the scene looks like it's supposed to be raining, inside the room, which I guess I can live with. At least it makes the room look dark, which was sort of the "interrogation room" look I was going for - a shadowy scene with only one light source, dangling above. 

By the way, those aren't guidelines on her arms or legs, nor is the picture incomplete - she's a robot. Those are like, metal plates I guess? I'm still working on the anatomy of this particular character, and defining her figure is one of the goals of this semester.