Copy or Transcription Drawing

The semester is winding down this week and I  have been extremely busy and haven't posted for awhile. As I looked back on the projects that I assigned my students, one drawing that I hope helped them was the master copy or transcription drawing. I ask them to find an old master drawing and copy it (well transcribe it - no need to copy line for line). I find it helpful to spend more than a cursory moment with great works of the past. Transcribing a great drawing or painting can introduce the student to how particular visual problems could be solved. It gives me inspiration to spend time with such pieces. Here is the drawing I started as an example for the class. It is by no means finished and I hope to get back to it.

Copy of Juan de Pareja by Velazquez, charcoal on paper, 2011