Another evening artwork. I bought some sheets of a paper made in France by Clairefontaine called Pastelmat. Wanted to try it out with my Polychromos pencils and some liquid graphite. So I picked a black and white picture I had of Ronnie James Dio. Dio was a singer and was in a band called Elf and then formed Rainbow with Ritchie Blackmore in the late seventies. That was an amazing band. Anyway he then left and in 1980 he joined Black Sabbath after they fired Ozzy. Then left that after a couple albums to only return later for a new album and a couple tours. For what seems a legal situation the band was called Heaven and Hell. He died from stomach cancer in 2010. Dio was one of the greatest rock singers in my opinion. Especially from the Rainbow and early time in Sabbath. Now that you have a little of his history you know why I chose him for this. I think this paper is quite good for this style of art but it has a couple mistakes from learning so the next one should improve. Mainly the liquid graphite is a little touchy on this hard surface paper. But the pencils layered very well for a first attempt. I liked the way the pencils were able to cover but then have colors layered on top without messing up the paper. This sheet I used was a bluish grey in medium value. I choose it because of the colors I wanted to use it would give a good base. I glued it to a thick board so the paper would stay flat. I will definitely give this a try again with another subject on a bigger sheet. This one was about 9x12. #anthonyleonstudio #dio #ronniejamesdio #pastelmat #rocksinger #clairefontaine #rockmusician #portraitdrawing