CHARCOALCharcoal DefinedCharcoal Types

Tools The Importance of

Value + ContrastShading Techniques

Mark Making

Charcoal is organic materials (like tree sticks) that have been made into carbon/coal (by burning) and then used as a tool to draw with!

Great for:•Producing Preliminary Sketches•Creating Quick Gestural Drawings•Rendering Realistic Drawings•Using with other Media as Mixed Media

Charcoal Defined

Charcoal is great for drawing preliminary sketches because of its temporary and fluid quality.

Charcoal is used for gestural (fast) figure drawing sessions because of its speed and the ease of rendering high contrast and making corrections.

Charcoal not only makes it easy to achieve a sense of realism because of easily attained contrast but ambiance, tone, or mood through the use of value and mark making.

PAUL RUMSEYSisyphus and RockCharcoal

MARIA MELONICharcoal on grey toned paper

Vine/Willow Compressed Pencil + White Charcoal (Pencil and

Sticks)

Charcoal Types

Willow and vine charcoals are made from sections of grape vine and willow branches respectively, which have been burnt to a precise degree of hardness.

Vine/Willow Charcoal

• Do’s: Great for sketching out composition and rendering lightest values because it erases more completely…

-due to lack of binding agents.

• Don’ts: Willow and vine charcoals are often very soft and powdery, which makes is hard to render fine, crisp images.

Willow CharcoalWillow charcoal is a made from natural willow. It is made by cooking the willow wands in a low oxygen environment.Generally willow charcoal is soft to use and

the broader sticks are fantastic for fast coverage or large areas, ideal for techniques that rely on wiping out. It is very forgiving to work with as it erases easily but this also means that it does not adhere particularly well to the paper.

Vine Charcoal• Vine charcoal is also a natural charcoal. It is made in the same way as willow.• It is harder than willow and slightly more difficult to erase than willow. It makes a fairly grey black. It is much harder to find in art shops than either willow or compressed charcoals.

Compressed CharcoalCompressed charcoal starts out as charred wood dust and other organic materials to which a binder is added. The binder helps to create the darkest, richest, longest lasting values possible.Do’s: Use Compressed charcoal sticks for large , dark areas and quick gestural drawing.

Don’ts: Don’t use compressed charcoal carelessly. They make the darkest blacks but because of the binders making them very difficult to erase. The sticks in particular can be incredibly messy to use since the dust will stick and transfer to most things.

Made of the same organic materials as compressed charcoal sticks, charcoal pencils are just incased in wood to help create a tip for more quality control. The amount of binder can be used to regulate hardness.

Pencil Charcoal

Do’s: Use Compressed charcoal pencils for small details, fully rendered values, and overall control.

Don’ts: Don’t use compressed charcoal pencils carelessly. They are also hard to erase because of the binder and can be difficult to erase.

Not to be confused with chalk (made of TALC) white charcoal is made with organic materials like compressed black charcoal but is fired at a much lower temperature and then white pigment is added.

White Charcoal

Do’s: Use white charcoal pencils in compressed and pencil form to create lighter values on toned paper.

Don’ts: Don’t mix white charcoal with black charcoal on toned paper bc it will turn a yucky grey. Instead let the ground show through by gradating the white into the value of the toned background.

DON’T DO

•Ground-The surface charcoal is applied to (white or toned)

•Blending Tools: Tortillian, rolled up paper, tissue, cotton balls, paint brushes

•Erasers: Gum, White Plastic, Kneaded, Cap, Sticks

•Sharpeners: Hand Held,

X-acto, Sandpaper•Fixatives: Final and Workable

Charcoal Tools

Using Value to Create FORM

The Importance of

Value + Contrast

What is the difference between a shape and a form?

SHAPE: 2D area that is surrounded by a simple line.

FORM: 3D area that has height, width, and depth. In drawing this is created through the addition of value.

Value and Contrast are the element and principle

responsible for the lifelike quality of realistic art work.

They are considered to be more important than color to most artists, in creating

great works of art!

Value + ContrastThe Importance of

ValueWhat is value?•Value is how light or dark an object is (or appears to be)

•Value is one of the Elements of Art

Value Can CREATE…Contrast – the comparative difference

between light and dark valuesForm – the illusion of 3D shapesTexture – the surface quality of an

objectVariation – using different values to

create interest in an art piece; variation in value helps “set the mood” of the piece

Value Creating Contrast

The light face next to the dark background creates contrast

CONTRAST- the comparative difference between values

-high contrast= black vs. white-low contrast= grey vs. black

Value Creating Form

Value creates the sense of eggs on otherwise flat paper

Value Creating Texture

Value creates the IMPLIED texture of the cat’s fur….

Value Creating VarietyThe use of different values in the same drawing creates variety and a movement for your eye to travel freely!

Value ScalesOne of the most common ways to learn about

value is to make a value scaleValue scales… 1. Help build fine motor skills and 2. Allow the artist to see the full range of

value *Below is a five-part value scale on grey toned paper

Value Scale on Grey Toned PaperFind where on the value scale the tone of the

paper/ground fits in. On this 5 value scale on grey paper the tone of the paper fits in the center.

The lightest square should be as white as possible, with the second box of your scale a little darker you have to press lighter on the white charcoal pencil.

Continue this process for the darkest valued squares with black charcoal pencil.

Value of paper

Why Toned Paper?Starting on a medium toned ground helps extend values and deepens contrast by comparing our darkest and lightest values to a medium value instead of white.

What can be used to tone paper?Coffee/TeaPastel/charcoalGesso/charcoalWatercolor/inkTinted paper (manufactured)

Controlling ValueThere are two ways to approach applying

charcoal to paper:1.Heaviest pressure on the darkest square2. A lighter coat of charcoal applied in several layers to achieve the value desired is the more controlled method.

You should be reaching the lightest, whitest and darkest, blackest values.

Shading uses smudges, circular motions, lines or other marks to fill in outlines of a shape to represent gradations of color or value to create form.

Shading Techniques

Shading a Circle to a Sphere

Parts of a Shadow

Following the CONTOUR!!When shading form, it’s important to make

sure your shading follows the contour.If your shading doesn’t follow the form, it will

visually flatten what you worked so hard to make appear 3D

Draw the cup at your desk on grey toned paper lightly in pencil.

Draw a 5-value scale to the left of the cup with the grey being in the middle.

Shade the cup to look realistic with black and white charcoal- leaving the grey paper exposed between the two charcoal values. IF mixed- the cup will appear a yucky grey color.

Preliminary Charcoal Assignment

Value and Contrast are the element and principle responsible for the lifelike quality of realistic art work. They are considered to be more important than color to most artists, in creating great works of art!

Mark Making

HOMEWORK: come up with 10 different marks that can be made with charcoal in your sketchbook. Think about different textures and problem solve- if you are not sure where to start