A portrait that was drawn with white conté on black paper. Based on a portrait of Rembrandt that was printed out with a increased black and white contrast. After that, I turned the printed portrait upside down and tried to re-create it. Increased the contrast of the final drawing again in photoshop (my camera made it pretty light).

Drawing portraits upside down is a great exercise that I can recommend to anyone. The facial feautures disapear and everything becomes a simple shape, wich changes the way you look at it. It's hard to explain, you just have to try it for yourself.