Techniques for Charcoal Drawing



Charcoal is used in the same way a pencil is used to draw and shade anything, but it’s best suited to to more expressive types of shading like hatching.

Charcoal can also be used to do the preliminary drawings of a painting on canvas.
  • Once you’ve blocked in your shapes and values, spray with a workable fixative and start painting. Turning your charcoal stick on its side and filling in major areas of a subject is a great way to train your brain to see shapes rather than contours.
  • One of my favorite thing to do with charcoal, however, is gesture drawings. It’s the perfect tool for executing the large, sweeping strokes needed to capture a gesture. Use a nice chunk and a big pad of cartridge paper to get the most out of your drawings.
It is always a good idea to have a variety of drawing tools to choose from.
  1. The pencil is great for detailed renderings.
  2. Charcoal for expressive drawings.

What do you prefer? pencil or charcoal?

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