The charcoal drawing medium is used for rough preliminary sketches in preparation for painting design, or it may be used for finished drawings.
Tip: Charcoal is excellent for tonal or value drawings.
Overview
Includes the following.
About Charcoal
Charcoal is a dry drawing material used much in the same way as graphite and has many advantages. It is carbonized from burning wood in the absence of oxygen. This burnt wood, or the light, black residue after the wood has been burnt, has excellent covering power and intense blacks and, in some cases, is easier to erase than graphite.
A Brief History of Charcoal
Charcoal is one of the first tools used to make artwork, appearing in cave paintings dating back 28,000 years. It is the Earth's drawing tool.
Advantages
Charcoal, like graphite, varies in hardness and is also available in pencils or powder. Shading may be produced by smudging the marks made using a stump (made with cotton), tortillion (made from rolled paper), or even a Kleenex.
Soft Edges
Charcoal is an excellent tool for achieving the soft edges, atmospheric or "sfumato" (the Italian word meaning "to tone down" or "to evaporate like smoke"), found in Leonardo da Vinci's drawings.
Intense Blacks
Charcoal produces an extensive range of values, so it can create incredibly realistic and sensitive drawings. Vine charcoal makes lighter values, whereas compressed charcoal creates super intense blacks.
Work in Any Size
It is excellent for expressive drawing and can be used for larger-sized works. You just buy more giant chunks of charcoal.
Inexpensive
Vine charcoal is lightweight and inexpensive.
Less is More
It's hard to get stuck in details using a block or stick charcoal because its mark is more blunt than the precision of a pencil. If more detailed work is needed, it does come in pencil form or may be sharpened for finer details.
Works Great on Textured Paper
When buying paper in the art store, look on the label for "charcoal paper" or feel the texture with your hand. If it has a textured surface called the paper's " tooth, " it will work great with charcoal. The "tooth" allows the piece to hold the tiny particles of the charcoal and better adhere to the surface. Note that the amount of texture or "tooth" varies among brands, so you must experiment to find what you like.
Materials or Supplies
Includes the following.
Vine or Willow Charcoal
Vine charcoal is produced by carbonizing wood sticks, the most common being willow and linden. It is excellent for gesture drawing and easy to erase with an eraser or even your hand.
Preferred Brands
Nitram Academie Fusains is the preferred charcoal of professional artists, academics, and ateliers. Long considered the most refined charcoal for drawing, it is packaged in five soft, medium, or hard charcoal batons.
Preferred Grade
Nitram Academie Fusains HB (Medium)
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| Vine Charcoal Sticks |
Compressed Charcoal
Compressed charcoal is powdered charcoal mixed with a gum binder; the hardness is determined by the amount of binder used. It is compressed into round or square sticks. The amount of binder determines the hardness of the stick. It gets super dark and makes blacker values for dark accents, but it may not be easy to erase. It will stain the paper. This is also the type of charcoal found inside charcoal pencils.
Preferred Brands
General's Jumbo Charcoal, the package contains three Jumbo Charcoal Sticks, each of 2B, 4B, and 6B. This compressed charcoal can be sharpened to a point for detailed work. It blends easily with a paper stub. 3 "L x 1/2 "W x 1/4 "T. - Set of 3, Assorted Hardnesses.
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| Compressed Charcoal |
Charcoal Pencils
Charcoal pencils and pastel pencils are like distant cousins. They are both held together with a binder and encased in wood. Charcoal pencils have compressed charcoal mixed with a binder, whereas black pastel pencils have black pigment (not just charcoal) combined with a binder. Depending upon the brand, pastel pencils go on smoother than compressed charcoal pencils, creating the capability for a smooth gradation in drawings.
Preferred Grades
Charcoal pencils come in different grades. Hardness or softness is graded on a scale created in the 20th century.
Grades include HB, 2B, 4B, and 6B, which are used as a continuum from very hard (9H) to fine (F) to very black (9B). The HB pencil is the middle ground and is the most straightforward to work with using an eraser.
The letters stand for the following:
H for hard,
F for fine,
B for black
The grade for each pencil is determined by the type or amount of binder used during manufacturing.
Pit Charcoal Pencils
Faber-Castell Pitt Charcoal Pencil (Soft Grade) is made from soot and clay.
Preferred Brands
Faber-Castell PITT® Charcoal Pencil (Soft)
OR Stabilo CarbOthello "Lamp Black" (No. 760)
OR Faber-Castell PITT® (No. 101)
OR Conté "Black"
OR for pencil lovers: Faber-Castell Polychromos "Black."
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| Pit Charcoal Pencil |
These pencils glide softly across the paper, rub and smudge effortlessly, and can be erased and overlaid with minimal difficulty. Grease-free and oil-free, these artist-quality charcoal pencils make bluish-black lines.
Charcoal Powder
Powdered charcoal is often used to "tone" or cover large sections of a drawing surface. Drawing over the toned areas darkens them, but the artist can also lighten (or completely erase) the toned area to create lighter tones.
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| Charcoal Powder |
Preferred Brands
Createacolor
Resources & Links
Click on the tabs below.
How to Sharpen Charcoal Pencils
Sandpaper is preferred for sharpening charcoal pencils. Some charcoal pencils will break off in a manual or electric rotary sharpener, so it is recommended that you use a razor blade or an X-acto knife with sandpaper.
Article Links
- History of Charcoal - Overview by the manufacturer of "Nitram Charcoal."
- Hunting for the History of Charcoal - Article by the manufacturer of "Nitram Charcoal."
- Charcoal & Pencil Drawings Techniques - A general instruction or tutorial by J.D. Hillberry
Instructor-Recommended Books
- Click here for a list of Art Verve Instructor recommendations.
