Early start on Wayne M. Portrait

I've started laying down some "local" colour in the figure and background, but know I have a long way to go. I'm not sure yet how I'll deal with the bulky window frame or the furniture behind the figure, so I'm setting them aside for now. My goal is to colour in the clothing and body, getting the correct values in the lights and shadows, and the immediate background of the curtain. In fact, I'll know when I'm ready to move on when I have 4 distinct values: the background, the cast shadows inside the figure and on the floor, the contained shadows in the figure (like the neck area) and the areas in direct light... I know appreciate why some old masters worked first in grisaille (monochrome) before adding colour...

Michelangelo Copy: Detail from 1542 Battle of Cascina

Once upon a time, Michelangelo received a commission to paint a fresco of the Battle of Cascina between Florence and Pisa. He chose an obscure, peculiar episode of
Florentine soldiers bathing in the Arno river. A captain sounds the alarm (false as it turns out) of the approaching enemy and Michelangelo depicts them scrambling to get out of the water, dressed and armed... The fresco, intended to serve as a clarion call for preparedness, was never done. Some studies of his composition survived, including a painted grisaille copy of the cartoon from his assistant Aristotile da Sangallo, 1542.

I've chosen to do a detail, highlighted by the red box below. The actual composition is about three times what's shown below.



Two years ago, long before I was aware of this source (in a book of complete drawings by M.) I saw this copy below on a friend's wall and photographed it, intending to make a copy.



Now that I have an "original" and this copy side by side, I can see major flaws in both. The hand gripping the pole in M.'s original is grotesquely out of proportion, as are most of the muscle groups... But in the unknown copy, the modelling of the forms is terrible (like rough plaster); the bundle of clothing held in the left hand of the central figure looks like a loaf of bread!

I hope to do better. I made a drawing that uses both compositions and transferred it to "Roma Michelangelo" paper (Grey) and also to Canson blue paper. I'm trying a combination of black charcoal and white chalk/pastel for the first time. The grey paper is supposed to serve as the neutral value. I started out on the outstretched arm, just to see what the white, grey, black combination would produce. Zoom in on the image to see it better...