Drawing or sketching is one of the most widely known craft in the industry of work and art. And the most salient component of this is the choice of tools to use with it in making your artwork, such as pencils. Hence, in this article, we shall discuss how to draw using charcoal.
One artist has claimed that, once you got into the art of sketching, you will become more open to different techniques and styles, thereby, figuring out what’s suited to your taste and which is more fitted to your skills as well.
Nowadays, the use of charcoal is one of the most popular tools for artists, whose focus is sketching with little amount of time involved. According to many artists who had settled with charcoal, it is a brittle material yet smooth, akin to a chalk.
It is also more appreciated if you prefer rich tones, conveying some degree of intensity and depth. Thus, if you are into details, the use of charcoal pencils are indeed for you.
How to draw using charcoal | Charcoal drawing exercises
We are all aware that there are different drawing or sketching techniques that are well known when it comes with the use of normal pencils or even charcoals.
Below are some of the most salient ones that a lot of artists are equipped about and mostly doing in their art making and creating endeavor.
- The use of eraser to create the illusion of highlights, since charcoal drawings are known for the presence of their grey-toned background. You should not be afraid of brushing away some residue and create the highlights you have in mind. This will not ruin the art but rather will balance both the both tones of your drawing, the light and the dark.
- There is white charcoal pencil that is, in fact, used for highlights as well. The misconception there is, that charcoal pencils are all black, but this is not the case. White charcoal pencils are responsible for beautifying the page by the contrast built in.
- You must vary your strokes; this is possible by angling your pen in different direction while still applying pressure every now and then.
- It is not unconventional to use any other tool to blend your drawings, one of which, that is possible to use is a paintbrush. It can be used to smooth out certain portion of the drawing. The use of charcoal in drawings make your work flexible and susceptible on explorative techniques to improve the outcome even more, the use of other tools that you can think of.
How to use charcoal pencils?
There are three forms of charcoal that are considered the basic ones: pencil, vine, and stick. We shall explain them below.
The pencil charcoal is better used in drawings ranging from hard to soft, this isn’t so different from a normal pencil that are used for drawing as well. It only differs that in the former you can have a fine point, coupled with a lot pressure. This is also for smaller pieces of art.
On the other hand, a vine charcoal, because of its nature as a “burnt willow sticks”, is soft and is best to have for the completion of filling in the grooves of your paper, making it a solid black. Since it is a bit of silvery grey, it doesn’t make the best blacks.
Lastly, the stick charcoal can be hard and/or soft, or be used with different colors. Therefore, if you want your work to have the blacks, this is the one for you.
Since charcoal drawing can be tricky, some artist advises beginners to hold the tool with their forefinger and thumb.
To get a sharper edge in their drawing and the pressure applied will make their line solid and darker. Yet, in larger areas to be filled in, the charcoal should be held on its side and make sweeping motions too.
Charcoal drawing ideas
The type of shades that you want to accentuate will also depend on which kind of charcoal to use. To bring a deep black tone, a compressed stick will bring about the desired color and for soft tones or color, use a softer charcoal and a messy detail will be conspicuous with the use of a pressed charcoal.
The other tip to consider is how the charcoal should be held, since the charcoal stick has no edges, your palm should be facing the paper while the stick shall be held by your forefinger and thumb.
Though it is said to be facing the paper, your palm should not be touching the paper so you can easily get rid of the dust later on, this will aid you in erasing any part that is became/or undesirable for you.
Charcoal drawing can be challenging for beginners. Thus, in order to learn the intensity, depth, and shadows, some artists start their work with simple pictures and less tricky.
Then, they can make their way up into getting the hang of harder and more complex ideas and details of the imagery. This can also be a big of help to artists’ mentality.
This is not a foreign concept that one who cannot portray their desired outcomes can result to frustration which if cultured unhealthily could cause an artist to be discouraged.
Consequently, if you really think about it, it is a smart way to learn charcoal drawing and staying with the said line of work.
How do you start a charcoal sketch?
It is safe to say that you have learned some of the basics of the charcoal drawing; so, this will provide you an easy step by step way to finish a whole work. You may want to start getting yourself a page that is clean.
Any paper of your choice will do, and with the side of the charcoal stick, you may start drawing some shapes that can put the general idea of your imagery to draw them into actual picturesque.
The shapes will help you determine the proportions of your draw, the restrictions and even the depth which will give you the eye on which part to put highlights and shadows.
After this, you can add a few more strokes and detail to manifest the image you desire it to be, dramatic lines is encouraged but do get carried away!
To make the white canvas not monotonous, you can use your chamois to wipe your entire picture, creating a seemingly dimmed background of your drawing, adding more personality into it.
Some lines will look smudge but you can always go back to add back the detail that’s what have lost earlier. With the grey-toned background, you may now emphasize lightings of your picture with the use of a kneaded eraser.
This will be the time where you will rub your eraser to add detail and texture on your work, this can be done by just swiping the eraser over your paper.
Lastly, you may want to catch your audience’s attention and even back, after being distracted, and the technique is to have a dark background behind the area which is lighter and vice versa. In this way, you can grab back the attention of your viewer.
What is needed for charcoal drawing?
To start with charcoal drawing, you must first select the proper charcoal pencil to use. You should not restrict yourself into choosing on. Blending can be done in this kind of drawing.
Second, you must know and choose which papers to use in creating your drawing. There are varieties to consider, it may either be a plain white paper, a charcoal paper, or even toned paper.
If you prefer to employ smooth lines, plain white paper is the material to be used. You should use a charcoal paper if your choice is to have brittle lines with your craft. You may utilize toned papers. However, this can be a bit demanding as it needs both the presence of white and black charcoals.
The artists then recommend the buying of a kneaded erase, white chalk, and blending stump. If you wish to completely remove chalk, kneaded erasers can do the job as well. Nonetheless, the white chalk and the blending stump help create highlights and shadows in your sketch.
Lastly, a well-lit room should always be on the table because it would be difficult to create details in your work, such as highlights and shadows, if the room is dimmed.
What kind of charcoal is generally best for starting a drawing?
In starting a drawing, especially with beginners, the most preferred tool is the charcoal pencil. Since we are already accustomed with use of normal pencils, the use of charcoal ones would not do any different. Eventually, you will be familiar with it, and it’s less complex and dirty than the other ones.
What is special about charcoal drawing?
Did you know that charcoal has always been used as a drawing material since ancient times? It has been used for centuries. This is way proven by the cave drawings which are found to have charcoal materials on them.
The ancestors even used bones to include in their work bound either by saliva or animal fat to maintain them on the cave wall. The use of material is actually safe for our health because it’s a natural artifact, that is, made of burnt branches.
This is probably why it is also inexpensive, enough for you to buy a kneaded eraser altogether to complete everything you will need in starting learning everything about the charcoal drawing.
It is the best medium to improve your tonality with your drawings, this is referred by the aspect of your drawing of how light and dark they are. Actually, it is essential to learn your tonal values because this serves as the most important structure of your piece.
In another context, this helps on creating realistic image of your artwork. Please note as well that the versatility of this material.
It enables the artist to explore their blending techniques to enhance the picture more of their masterpiece. These are some facets of the charcoal drawing that makes it a more meaningful, challenging but satisfying technique to use.
Conclusion
The wonders of charcoal drawings do not live with the letters of how great the technique is but it is even more liven up by the artwork itself. Try to search a lot of imageries that used charcoal in depicting them, you will be able to see the realism with it.
You will evidently notice the hard work, time, and effort the artist exerted in making them and the appreciative nature of the art itself, as it is an expression of both the artist’s interpretation of the world and also the realities that our eyes could see with.
This is why, it is hoped that the art and artists would thrive more for their craft to be seen by spectators and art lovers because, admittedly, our time does not value enough the art itself. It belittles what it can offer; when in fact, it is of the same with things or stuff anyone put their efforts in. It is not ‘just an art’ but it is ‘the art.’