This was done in 2005 for a drawing assignment. I don't remember the exact brief, but this was one of two images I did as an illustration of clinical depression. The image below is a preparatory drawing I did for it; as often happens, I actually like the preparatory work better than the finished item (though the composition of the finished pastel is a lot better). I find that constant repetition of an idea often makes for a certain staleness in the final outcome. However, the school was very big on doing oodles of working drawings before the Real Thing (which, I have to admit, is usually more useful than not), so that's what I had to do.