Textile Project: Drawing a picture

OK, so sticking up the image was the easy part,

but what was I to do next?

I debated drawing it out versus tracing.

Of course, tracing sounds easier.

It would also ensure correct placement of parts.

So tracing won out, but it wasn't a simple matter at all!

When I tried to see through the tracing paper,
the image was very faint, barely visible.
Still, I soldiered on!

Of course, I had to first make a tracing paper quilt.

But I realized right away that I should make

the quilt as I trace along, not before,

since I had to constantly lift the tracing paper to 

take peeks at the photo to make sure I was on track.

This is what it looked like.

Can hardly see a thing, right?

I reinforced the ball pen lines with black crayons.
Did some shading.
Much better!

I can see some of the tonal differences now.

How will this tracing help?

I'm hoping it will enable me to see the picture 

in a more two dimensional way.

Break it down to its basics.

That way when I trace it on fabric I can focus

on the main parts first.

At least that's what I'm hoping!

Next: color!