LEARNING HOW TO DRAW WITH CHARCOAL PENCIL

Note; Above are works of my students not professional works

Drawing using Charcoal Pencil:

With the aid of charcoal pencil, begin by rendering the major shapes in the still life. Begin with large shapes, asking yourself "comparison" questions as you draw the components of the still life. Is this item bigger or smaller than the first item you have drawn - is it higher or lower on the picture plane - is this item round, angular, tall, short, skinny - the questions can be numerous and each one will help you make an accurate drawing. Do not get bogged down in detail - just try to capture the major shapes, sizes and spatial relationships between the objects. If you make a "mistake" in your drawing at this point, do not erase, but rather redraw the lines so that you are more satisfied with them.
Once you have the still life drawn to your satisfaction, it is time to begin to define the highlights and shadows you see in the arrangement. As you toned your paper in the earlier step, you were creating the medium gray value for the still life. Now you will turn your attention to any value that deviates from this medium gray. This will apply to both areas that are darker than the medium gray and to areas that are lighter. The darker areas will be rendered with application of the black charcoal. The charcoal will be applied in heavier amounts where the still life is darkest and with less pressure and charcoal in areas that are lighter than those darkest parts. To achieve a gradual transition from lighter to darker areas, you can use your blending stumps to soften the transition areas. I must interject here that you must resist the urge to blend the charcoal with your fingers. Our hands have oils that naturally occur in our skin. By using your fingers to blend the charcoal you are rubbing these oils into your drawing. While it will usually not be apparent initially, over time those oils will begin to show in the drawing and compromise the long-term quality of your drawing.
The next step is to indicate where the light is striking the objects in the still life. These areas will be lighter than the medium gray your toned paper provides. To create these highlights you will be using your eraser to lift some of the charcoal back out of the toned paper. You will see that you can remove most, but not all, of the charcoal. It's fun and unexpected to use an eraser as a drawing tool, and in this project it is a very effective one. Experiment with the eraser and the pressure you apply to lift the charcoal. A myriad of effects can be achieved by using the eraser in different ways. The beauty of the kneaded eraser is that you can shape it into all kinds of edges, points, etc. to vary the effects in lifting the charcoal from the toned paper. For the lightest lights in the drawing you will need to apply some of the white charcoal. As mentioned earlier, these light areas can be blended with the tortillions - just make sure that the blending stump is clean before you attempt this light area blending. The tortillions can be cleaned by rubbing the dirty parts off with sandpaper.
While I have described the creation of light and shadow on the still life drawing in terms of "steps," you do not have to do all of the shading first and the highlighting second. In fact, you can go from one to the other interchangeably I tend to work from dark to light on this type of project, but by no means do you have to. As your drawing progresses, occasionally step back from the picture and consider the image as a whole. When you are satisfied with your drawing - when you feel good about the variety of lights and darks portrayed, when the drawing looks "finished," it is time to stop. Many artists have the problem of overworking their creations and thereby lessening the quality and spontaneity of their piece. Knowing when to quit is one of the most overlooked skills in the artist's repertoire

Materials Checklist;

*Charcoal
*Eraser
*White Charcoal
*Charcoal Paper
*Facial Tissues (Kleenex)
*Blending Stumps (Tortillions)
*Fixative
*Creating the Toned Paper