Lina Romay. Spanish girl, star of such luminous masterpieces as “Female Vampire”. I did a few freehand sketches of her and just couldn’t get her face right, hence the grid. Done with an 0.5mm 2B on very cheap paper with no tooth. About 60 minutes.

There is a curious story behind the image. I was on Flickr, trawling through, and came across the photo of Romay. I’d never heard of her before, so I Googled the name. And discovered she had died that day (December 27th). Only it wasn’t her. The gal I’ve sketched took “Lina Romay” as a stage name from a much older actress who was a singer back in Fred Astaire films etc of the 1940s, and it was the older actress that had died, aged 91.