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Introduction
Introduction
Today I will explore charcoals and graphites as a dry medium following Mary Hafeli's Exploring Studio Materials, let's treat graphite and charcoal as active partners in discovery, not just as tools. Instead of aiming for a "good drawing," we'll explore their unique personalities with a sense of "not knowing." By questioning their physical properties like the grittiness of charcoal versus the smoothness of graphite we learn their language and discover what they can help us express.
Materials and prices
Materials and prices
Sketchbooks
Strathmore 400 Series Toned Gray Sketch Pad (5.5 in x 8.5 in): $5.75 - $10.00
Canson Universal Sketch Pad (5.5 in x 8.5 in): $10.50 - $13.50
Drawing & Sketching Tools
Faber-Castell Soft Pastels Set (Hand Picked sticks): $25.00-$50.00
Conté à Paris Sketching Crayons (small packs): $5.00 - $6.00 per pack
Prismacolor Turquoise Graphite Pencils Set (set of 12): $11.00 - $27.00
Willow/Vine Charcoal Sticks (box): $4.50 - $7.00
Compressed Charcoal (box of refills/sticks): $6.00 - $9.00
PanPastel Ultra Soft Artist Pastel (single pan): $6.00 - $8.50
PanPastel Sofft Applicator Tool: $3.00 - $5.00
Blending Stumps & Tortillons Set: $7.50 - $9.00
Prismacolor Magic Rub Vinyl Eraser (white): $2.50 - $4.00
Pink Rubber Eraser (e.g., Pink Pearl): $0.50 - $1.50
Faber-Castell Eraser Pencil: $1.50 - $3.00
Staedtler Single-Hole Metal Pencil Sharpener: $1.50 - $2.00
Standard Kneaded Eraser (gray, by pencils): $1.00 - $3.00
Exploring Supports
Exploring Supports
Charcoals can be used on a variety of smooth and toothed paper unlike wet media, however the color of the paper and the tooth intensity strongly affect the mark making.
I used a toned gray sketch paper and white sketching paper. The toned paper allows for a faster working time by reducing workload for midtones while the white paper leaves more room for control. The drawback with the toned paper is that instead of erasing for highlights you have to use white pencil or marker.
Exploring Mark Making
Exploring Mark Making
The main defining element of graphites and charcoal is their pigment/ binder ratio. the more pigmented a charcoal the darker and softer it is. While the graphites have a metalic gray look to them, the charcoals always look matte and are better for working on larger areas. Using Pan Pastels was the most satisfying as it looked really well absorbed and soft edged.
While there are pencil charcoals as well I used graphite pencils by Prismacolor here. The Hard pencils have the least pigment allowing for easy erasing but they might leave a permanent mark on the paper since you need to push really hard to leave a mark. The soft Black pencils run out easily as they are more pigmented and need to be sharpened fast.
The conte crayon was more waxy and less powdered compared to compressed and vine charcoal. vine charcaol is soft but not as pigmented making it a great option for initial sketches. I usually use them for drawings under paintings. The compressed and willow charcoal had the most black intensity making them amazing tools for shadows. The willows was more waxy and its thinner size makes it a better tool for precise locations compared to the boxy compressed charcoal shape.
Exploring value and colors
Exploring value and colors
Charcoal, panpastel and soft pastels are a great tool for learning about value, shape, and 3D form. They allow working in layers and create different marks depending on the color, applied pressure, pigment intensity and position of the hand.
You need to make sure, however, that you build on the pressure and pigment intensity according to shape and light sources as erasing can become tedious if you have to erase multiple layers. Erasing soft pastels can be a bit harder as the pigment tends to stick to the eraser.
strengthes and weakness
strengthes and weakness
As versatile as it is, graphites and charcoals have their own limited pros and cons. The limited color allows for more indepth practice of value and drawing while its lack of variety means less expressive mood and emotion. It can also be really messy on the hands and paper if you used powder and soft pastels as opposed to waxier formulas. I used vine charcaol for my self portrait drawing which resulted in stains around unwanted areas and the adjacent page. In order to avoid this problem using a workable fixative or hairspray might be a solution.
Other issues I ran into were that the soft 8B pencil broke when I sharpened it too much so it might not be the best brand to buy. You can notice that blending the Soft pastels with my finger moved the pigment around but it didn't blend the original markes completely. Erasing compressed and willow charcoal also proved to be inconsequential, moving pigment to unwanted areas.
Lesson Examples
Lesson Examples
I love Graphites and charcoals as they are the initial tools I first learned to draw with. I would teach students to used Vine charcoal and hard or HB pencil to do fast (5-10 min) daily sketches of people, and still life to improve their observational skills, focusing strongly on proportions and value placement. Quantity is more important than quality.
Then I would encourage them to do an in depth still life charcoal study with the following steps:
Arrange a minimum of 5-7 Volumetric household or personal items as your still life setting.
Light your scene with side lighting to see light and shadow clearly.
Create and use a viewfinder to find the best composition and Point of view for drawing you scene. (feel free to rearrange items if you like)
Use vine charcoal or hard pencil to start drawing sighting lines and/or a grid for better accuracy.
Start blocking midtones from largest shapes to smaller ones. Use the side of your charcoal stick for large areas.
erase for highlights and darken your darkest darks with compressed charcoal.
Take a visual break and step away from your drawing to see it from afar.
Continue to build shadows by pushing the darks and pulling the lights.
Refine until you arrive at your desired likeness of your still life.
OVerall Thoughts
OVerall Thoughts
To close, I have to say I feel pretty confident working with Charcoal and teaching it to students. I would like to Improve upon my skills for working more with panpastel to create more smooth and atomospheric effects. I also think that charcoals are not really appropriate with elementary students but much better for middle school to early high school students.
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