Hello,

I would like to try my hand at drawing with charcoal but would really appreciate if anyone knows of a good simple demo or book for beginners. I've been using graphite and some colored pencil, but only for a few months. I saw the cool WIP that airscapes did, but those are portraits, not a good thing to try for a beginner in the media I think :-)

If anyone could help, would REALLY appreciate it. I already have the charcoal (both pencils, vine, and compressed as well as white charcoal). Now just need a bit of guidance to begin.

Anyone want to do an easy demo for beginners

Thanks!

Rainy

I think you can probably figure it out on your own. I did a couple of loose still lifes in drawing 101 and hated charcoal. It was over a year before I tried a detailed carefull drawing (portrait) that I found I like it.
Just set up an all white still life, shine a light on it from one side and try your hand at the charcoal. Don't use your fingers to blend use qtips or paper stumps. Just experiment and have fun. Great thing is if you use the vine you can erase with the kneaded eraser.
Charcoal paper is a must since it kind of just lays there (the charcoal).
Tip: Don't work over your white carpet

For your still life, use bottles spray painted white or white milk cartons, teepot or bowl of eggs!. Drape a white towle or sheet over a small table and set things up. Use masking tape to secure things so they don't fall over.
The below link to my gallery is a photo of a still life that was done with the airbrush, but it was done "After" I had done it in charcoal for Drawing 101 homework. I don't have a pic of the charcoal drawing.. it wasn't that great.
http://www.drawspace.com/forums/index.php?...i&img=15851
Here is another homework... refernce photo (I did work from real life but used the photo to choose my setup)

Refernece sorry it is so big..
[attachmentid=10180]

Drawing
[attachmentid=10181]

Just draw out your setup in line using pencil then add the shading (render the image) with the charcoal, just don't be afraid of the dark!!
Hope this helps
Doug

PS start out with just a piece of charcoal paper and all your charcoal experiment with each type doing shading from light to darkest . Try hatching and blending and erasing. use different items like a micro fiber rag or shammy to blend.. sharpen the vine with your pencil sharpener (razor blade type) or on your sanding block. If you use the sanding block take a qtip to the dust on the block and apply it to the papper so see how you can achive subtle tones. YOU MUST USE CHACOAL PAPER ore Heavy tooth paper!

Thanks so much, airscapes! I will give this a try and if not to bashful of how it comes out, post my result.

BTW, is pastel paper ok?
I have Canson Mi_Tientes pastel paper 98 lbs
one side is sorts smooth and the other rough

Yes that will work. the top hat was done on the Tientes paper. I didn't like it as much as the strathmore paper but it did work. Try both sides so you can see how the tooth helps.

Hello,

I wanted to FINALLY share that I did try my hand today at charcoal . . . I used vine charcoal and I did get some real charcoal paper to do it on (thanks for that advice, airscapes). Here is my first attempt and it was FUN.

Rainy

I never really liked charcoal. I have worked with it quite a lot in a couple classes, and the only one I have been successful with is white charcoal. So, this summer I am determined to crank out a masterpiece in black charcoal. So, maybe we could work at the same time and help each other out.

Have a look at some of the charcoal lessons over at WetCanvas. They should be quite useful to get you started.

Charcoal can be as loose or tight as you want it to be, depending on what result you are looking for. Try a variety of surfaces, both textured and smoother til you find what you enjoy drawing on.

Looks good Rainy! I am glad you finaly gave it a shot and enjoyed doint it! I wish I had time for some art, but at the moment nothing but home improvement projects

Aviation, if you didn't like it in class, try it again as if you are doing a pencil drawing or paint. As IslanderNL said, it can be tight, and personaly that is how I like using it. The class I took had us doing loose and it was a mess!

Well back to table saw.. now what was that measurment.. oh 24x 43 1/2..

Have a great day!