Young Man with a Satchel

A young man crouches on his heels, forearms folded across his knees, a strapped satchel propped against his shin. His face is turned aside and softly modelled, the shirt and trousers built from light directional shading over a sure contour.

The bag is the most heavily worked object, its flap and buckle given weight and shadow so it anchors the pose. A resolved figure study, relaxed and grounded, the charcoal handled with restraint rather than the broad attack of the mother and child sheet.