Railway Roundhouse Worker, 1942

Paper: Canson Mi Tientes paper, 9" x 12"
Pencils: Derwent Lightfast, Derwent Drawing, Caran D'Ache Luminance
Background: Toison d'Or extra soft pastels
Reference:
Library of Congress collection, Public Domain, reproduction and publication specifically permitted (reference and collection number and usage notice held if required)

In the manner of Indiana Jones, I recently unearthed an ancient pile of purchased papers with the aim of using one for my next piece. Helpfully, some of these are not marked at all, so some detective work was in order. After carbon dating, sniffing and braille analysis, it was between papyrus and Canson Mi Tientes 160gsm, with the latter being finally decided upon on account of no previous order for papyrus being in my emails.

So in keeping with the theme of antiquity, I wanted to select something suitably vintage. A vintage, that is, that even pre-dates my existence... so I was on the look out for pre-spenceronian period photography of exceptional charm and character.

I do love old colour transparencies... there is a certain colour profile to them that I find so appealing. Digital images are so convenient and can be made to mimic classic film profiles of years past of course, but I do admit to having a touch of nostalgia for films and slides. So it was fabulous to find this wonderful image, with appropriate permissions to use, to base this piece on.

The original was taken in 1942 by Jack Delano, whilst working for the US Government recording working lives during the Second World War. This particular sooty chap is a railway roundhouse worker working for the Chicago and North Western Railway... tough and gruelling work. I deliberately warmed the image a touch on the skin tones before starting, maintaining the vintage style of colour toning and dark tones that were evident in the original. It really made the face pop out. I opted to grid this piece and once in place, the game was afoot!

The background was extra soft pastel that was initially applied near the top early on to test coverage, before completing the hat, face and torso in colour pencil... around shoulder level, I finished off the background and fixed with fixative to help prevent smudging... parts are so dark that I also fixed the hat and goggles and some parts of the clothing to prevent a little wax bloom that occurred. PanPastel didn't get me dark enough on the background, so the extra soft pastels were helpful as they had a much more intense black.

OMS was used for the shirt to give a smoother finish, blending pencil in some small areas like the buttons to give that vintage patina. The rest was pencil, caffeine and breath-holding alone.

I got to know this gentleman very well whilst drawing him. He wasn't so talkative in the conventional sense, but he did speak to me. He reminded me of my grandad who was a firefighter in the war and a similar age, so I hope that he has been rendered in a sympathetic manner and that you enjoy seeing him as much as I did in creating him 😊