It’s been a long time since 2001, and I have a little trouble reconstructing in my mind exactly what the sunsets behind the Twin Towers looked like. So, for inspiration, I turned to Google Images, and found a picture of Manhattanhenge. That’s when the sun lines up perfectly with the streets, so the sun sets between the buildings. Here’s what I found:

As you can see, the colors are less pretty than what I had, and the buildings in front are much darker, and more in silhoutte. So, I’m making the drawing more somber, then the sketch.

One thing that’s obvious from the photograph, is the limitations of the camera, as opposed to the human eye. The camera reads the setting sun as white, whereas to the eye, it’s a glowing orange.

For glowing, I turn to the master, Maxfield Parrish. He managed to make his paintings glow with transparent layer of color over color. I’d love to see one in person, but you can still get the idea from his prints.

So, I will try to duplicate his method, only using thin layer of pencil. Here’s where it stands now, and I’m going to have to do some research to remember the details of the buildings themselves.