Artist Statement: I chose to draw a charcoal self portrait. I found charcoal to be a fairly easy and versatile material to use. With careful shading and tone, I could make stark contrasts with the darker values against the lighter ones, make small details, and apply a certain quality to my artwork that I couldn’t obtain with any other medium. I like how charcoal can make any drawing seem abstract and melancholic to any subject given. It tends to demonstrate a sort of meaning, a sorrowful ambiance, because of the dark blacks and soft grays it uses. I believe that by drawing my own face, a person that i can be assured I know well enough to draw accurately, both in character and personality, I can show a better depth of emotion. I showed a darker side of my personality, one that’s not normally shown in my daily life, complementing the dark sentiments of the material, as well as relating that inner feeling, that sort of deeper meaning, to my artwork.