I’ve discovered that the blinds are going to be both the beauty and beast of this piece! I can’t draw them straight enough freehand, and yet if I make them with a hard lead and a straight edge, they’ll look too perfect. After a hour or so of feeling like I couldn’t win at getting these little details drawn properly, I stumbled on a combination of straight edge, battery powered eraser, hard lead, and a little grace from the Powers that Be that worked well enough. I can use what I have here as a base for what I need to draw.
The mood of this piece is “waiting” and “calm” and those delicate feelings are conveyed by the shadows the blinds cast. Because the blinds are a link in the chain of events that cause the mood, they’re very important and must be drawn with just the perfect touch. Too much emphasis on perfection and they become like the bars of a jail, too little and they recede into the background and emotional power of the mood is broken by an inconsistency that catches the eye like a sharp hook.