The concept for this project sprung from a fascination with old photographs of child factory workers. I drew some of their faces in my sketchbook, which evolved into narrow compositions that coupled each child with one of the historical lampposts of Berlin. I first did digital color studies to find a cohesive palette.

Beginning with a wash of acrylic ink in burnt sienna and filling in the background with black ink, I layered gouache, conté and white charcoal until I got the desired result.