I drew this from a photo I took during the Thoth parade on Saint Charles ave. Being a New Orleans police officer during Mardi Gras seems like it could be really aggravating and stressful, but this guy had a giant smile on his face the whole time he was out there.
I worked on this over a couple of sittings with a charcoal pencil and, while I am mostly happy with it, I think I kind of blew it on the left arm and a couple of proportion issues throughout the figure. There was a good stretch when I was living in San Francisco when my wife and I got pretty into figure drawing through some sessions with City College, but I haven't been able to find anything comparable in New Orleans. Working on this drawing has left me with an itch to get back into it, so hopefully I can find a place to draw from a model. I'd appreciate any suggestions if someone reading this knows of a place around town that isn't too expensive.
