David. Pencil, 2013.

At 17 feet tall, Michelangelo’s David towers over awestruck visitors of the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Until Michelangelo completed David in 1504, artistic depictions of the Biblical hero either showed him in the midst of his battle with Goliath, or immediately after, usually with the slain giant’s decapitated head in his hand or beneath his feet.

But Michelangelo focused on the critical moment before the battle, when David decides to take on the giant. He is weighing the consequences of his actions: failure would result in death, and victory would make him the hero of his people.

Either way, entering into battle would mean leaving his simple life as a shepherd behind.

In my drawing, I chose to focus primarily on the look of stolid determination in the face of adversity. The other elements of the drawing (e.g. the hand, the sling, the background) fall lower in the composition’s hierarchy.