Smoking Figure part 5

Off from my day job today, and some relatively tolerable weather, so a good day to get back into the Studio. Over the past few days I had spent time with my local architecture notes, sketches, and photos, and created a composite building influenced by several of my sources. That sketch can be seen above on the left. When I got to the Studio today I put a version of this behind the figure on a photocopy of a printout of the block sketch. (above right) It looked like it would work, so I used that as a guide to transferring my background idea to the block.

The first thing I did was make some adjustments to the organic shape to the left of the figure. When I first sketched it in (during the original pose) I had thought of it as a shadow. But later I realized that it was on the same side as the main light source, so it couldn't be a shadow. A closer inspection of a photo of the model in the pose showed different colors in the shape, and I realized that it was actually a reflection in the semi-gloss paint on the door behind her. I liked the effect, which is one of the reasons I put a glass storefront window in that space instead of solid masonry.

Using perspective clues from that door behind the model, I drew in the major structures and the detail of the brickwork above her head and in the lower left of the block (under the window). The last task of the day was to put in the lettering on the window. It's not referencing any specific place, but the "RE" in the second line could be the beginning of REAL ESTATE (a job in my model's past for which she would dress as she did that day) or of RESTAURANT (another type of business that smokers are regularly found outside of). A photo of the whole block is shown below.

There are still a few things to deal with in the background. I will add at least one more element to the window (down low, to reinforce the perspective below eye level), the existing lettering may need some adjustments, and I will consider other bricklaying patterns for the wall before I declare that done. All the background stuff will be inked when I'm sure of it, which will make the value relationships clearer than in the above photo.