Supplies
Tools
- Charcoal from sticks of different thicknesses or as a pencil, if you don't want to dirty your hands. (NB: the finished work will different as a result as the lead is harder and dryer than the sticks).
- Portfolio or wooden mat, which the sheet will lie on.
- Craft tape or bulldog clip to hold the sheet in place.
- Kneaded eraser
- Stump
- Fixative or hairspray
- Large, medium-sized, fine paintbrushes (for visual effects)
- Optional: easel.
Materials
- Sheet with a pronounced grain, so that the charcoal sticks.
- Scrap paper for attempts at the drawing.
Directions
Technique of adding charcoal
To give the effect of a spontaneous drawing.
- Take the charcoal at the top end, not like a pencil at the bottom end.
- Draw the main lines of the composition, drawing the lines without applying much pressure on the charcoal.
- Little by little, accentuate the nuances of the work by alternating between the lines, the hatchings and the filling-in of your shapes.
- It's useless to press hard on the paper, not only will that make the lines far more strong than needed, but also you will be unable to rub them out.
- Pitfall to avoid: filling up the entire sheet with out leaving blank sections necessary for the lighter sections of the drawng.
- With the kneaded eraser, blur and spread the charcoal across the sheet to give different degrees of grayness. This stage gives a mellowness to the drawing.
Technique of subtracting charcoal
To give the effect of a black and white drawing.
- Rub a big stick of charcoal across the sheets, so that the surface of the sheet is completely black. NB: Don't press down too hard or rubbing out will be difficult.
- Remove the charcoal from the material by rubbing it so that you have clear areas where you want them. Do this with:
- a large paintbrush (made from stiff hairs) for bigger surfaces.
- a finer brush for smaller areas.
NB: This technique makes a lot of mess.
- Continue to remove the charcoal, get more precise with the kneading eraser. Use it like a pencil: draw lines in the charcoal and remove areas of charcoal to make them light again.
Video
Tips
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Make your own charcoal sticks:
- Take a piece of wood 5mm in diameter, 10cm long.
- Put it in some aluminium foil then in fire (in the fireplace for example) for about a minute and a half.
- Remove it from the fire with some tongs.
- Leave it to cool.
- Check if the stick has gone black enough.
- Put it back in the fire.
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The charcoal can be worked with water once it has been applied on the paper. Test this with paintbrushes and a cloth.
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Dry pastel can easily be applied to your charcoal composition to give it some small touches of color. In a portrait, flesh colors are always welcome and are equally in a landscape image with green. Anything is possible.Think about what you're doing most of all: think about the meaning of the work and its size so you don't misrepresent the painting in black and white and instead create an interesting contrast.
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