Charcoal drawing

Vlasta Peyerlová

Charcoal drawing is one of the oldest art techniques. If you like drawing with a pencil and you would like to try something alike, you'll probably enjoy this. I used to draw with charcoal a lot when I was younger. It gives a very nice contrast, it allows you to play with shadows with ease and has a big advantage over a pencil when it comes to filling bigger areas.

We have two types of charcoal: vine charcoal and compressed charcoal. I recommend buying both types, each one is good for different things. Also, it's better to use harder paper with some texture for this (but if you're a beginner you can use the common one for practice).

Vine charcoal is usually made from burnt willow wood. It's easy to smudge and spread and easy to erase. If you're a beginner, you should rather start with this type, so you can get the hang of it.

Compressed charcoal has added chalk in it, so it's softer. It has a much darker color than vine charcoal. Because of that, it's harder to erase, so you must be more careful when working with it. They're usually available as square sticks or pencils. You can also buy white ones. I never used one myself, but I've seen some drawings with it and it looks very nice.

This is one of the few art techniques where you are allowed to smudge with your fingers. Or you can use paper tissues or kneaded eraser (the blue putty eraser thing). And if you really get into charcoal drawing, you should get one.

When you have finished your drawing, it's time to fix the charcoal in place. There're more types of fixative. There is a workable type that allows you to work on your drawing even after it has been fixated. Or there is a final fixative for the final drawing so you can't alter anything anymore. I think the workable type is more used since it seems more practical. Or you can use hairspray, though it's not very recommended since it can darken the surface of your drawing.

edited by: Adéla Jarolímková