My favorite part of this entire process is the first mark or two I make on the paper or canvas or whatever. At that point, there are endless possibilities and I never really know where the process will take me or what kind of craziness will find its way onto the page. Of course, there's always an element of fear, that this time I'll fuck up and be sad and discouraged. But I'm still able to round up enough enthusiasm to get over that feeling. At some point I decided I don't particularly like charcoal because it feels too imprecise and it's one of those media that a bit of forethought and planning is really pretty necessary to keep the picture from degenerating into a mess with little to no tonal range. Aside from a couple drawings in a class I once took, I've never used charcoal to draw anything from life, which probably contributes to the lack of confidence I have with the little black bits of compressed burnt trees.