Creating Art with Charcoal - The Materials

View PDF | Print View
by: preyank4u
Total views: 18
Word Count: 486
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 Time: 10:18 AM

Creating art with charcoal can be immensely rewarding.
The right materials can help you achieve professional looking results.

When you see the level of detail that can be achieved in a charcoal art drawing, it is no big surprise to feel the pull and desire to try and create something of your own. But in order to start drawing with charcoal you need to be sure you have an understanding of the materials that professional artists use.

For the beginner use white or off-white paper instead of toned papers. Look for a laid paper - a paper made on wire molds that give it a characteristic watermark of close thin lines. One of the most desirable is Fabriano Roma - made in Italy.

Drawing charcoal comes in a number of shapes and materials. Vine and Willow are the most common raw materials. However, almost all professionals, realist schools of art use the finest charcoal.

Many professional artists need charcoal as smooth, velvety and easy to work with and unlike vine and willow.

Some of the charcoal are hard one and are ideal for putting fine detail into your drawings. It can be sharpened to a fine point and used to fill in those little open areas in the paper. It can also be used for light shading of larger areas where necessary.

Some of them are soft and lays down a deep black that vine or willow cannot achieve. When doing sight size cast drawings, it is essential when laying down the overall black background.

Rest are the middle ground - the one you will use the most. This level of hardness provides the greatest degree of tones to make your drawing come alive. Beginners would be advised to use them for simple charcoal art drawings and sketches.

As a beginner to the world of drawing charcoal pictures, it is often best to opt for a bit of everything. Most charcoal comes in boxes, with several sticks in each one. A box of each will help you experiment and learn. You may find you have a use for every single one, or you may find one in particular is the ideal one for your needs.

Start with fine, small drawings - a perfect snapshot or element of a natural scene, a friend’s look or a special moment in time. In such a small scale the it really comes into its own, offering the ability to sharpen it to an extremely fine point that will enable you to get the level of detail you need.

As you can see charcoal art is far more in depth than you may at first think. Using a variety of different materials for your early artworks will enable you to narrow your choices to the finest charcoal.

About the Author

Nitram Fusains - The finest Drawing Charcoal in the World. We ship our charcoal for drawing to all over the world. Nitram Fusains Academy line comes in H, HB and B hardness. This allows the artist to create a broad range of tones. Nitram is now becoming available around the world in stores that sell high quality artists materials.

Comments