Albert Einstein Charcoal Drawing

I've begun the prep work for my latest project.  I'm doing a charcoal drawing of Albert Einstein for my friend Tyler.  I haven't done a charcoal drawing for a long time and I'm really excited to get back to it! Here's a few pictures because what would a blog post be without 'em. 

 I'm using this brilliant photo taken by Yousuf Karsh.

I need a coffee refill!

 I'm doing a grid technique which will help me get more precise proportions(great for the perfectionist that I am).  Basically, I draw a square grid over my photo.  Then I rub charcoal over my entire paper and use an eraser to make grid lines on the paper that have the same amount of squares as my photo.  Then you work square by square.  If that makes sense.  

 About to rub charcoal on my paper! ....But.  I used the wrong kind of paper.  I just used what we had lying around the house (watercolor paper), and the charcoal would not stay on the page!

YAY! More coffee!!

 See?  It's suppose to be evenly covered.  And it's not.  So I bought new paper specifically for charcoal, and now it's just a matter of redoing the taping/measuring and charcoaling.  I will hopefully get to this Tuesday night!  Bye for now!