How to Draw With Charcoal

Although it seems difficult to imagine but beautiful sketches can be made from charcoal. Initially, charcoal was used to make cave paintings. But it has slowly evolved to be used by famous artists the world over to make beautiful paintings which are very different in look. It is totally a different concept to use charcoal and it is not used like the regular pen or pencil. The charcoal pieces are usually round or square in shape and crumble when you hold them too tightly. But it is a great medium for sketching bold and expressive paintings. Let us learn how to draw with charcoal so that we can make several such paintings if the need be.

Use an uninhibited style of sketching and exploit your entire hand loosely to sketch out the solid outlines. Free and huge strokes will give a broad outline to the drawing you want to make. It is difficult to make the minute drawings unless you can manage to sharpen the charcoal bits and fashion them into pencils.
Usually the drawing you make with charcoal has to be huge. Hence, use a large piece of paper to draw with a full flow of the hand. Keep enough space for your entire arm to apply sweeping strokes.
Now you can blend the outlines with your fingertips. You can do this very creatively so that you can emphasize some places and knowingly make some of the points totally nondescript. You can make the drawing very interesting if you can do this intelligently.
Use a duster or a brush to erase the areas you have drawn by mistake. When you draw with charcoal, bits and pieces tend to remain on the paper. Your drawing might get smudged by these small bits. Brush them off carefully before you start the blending process.
A putty eraser can come of good use too. You can deliberately add highlights or remove charcoal from some areas with the help of this putty eraser. You can also fashion a moist piece of bread molding into a ball and use in place of putty eraser.
After you are completely sure that you have nothing to add or change in the painting, you can use a fixative to make the painting a permanent one. A spray adhesive will do the trick. It will keep the charcoal from spreading and spoiling the look. Skimmed milk or a cheap aerosol hairspray will also provide the necessary effects. These are environment friendly too.

A charcoal painting is really unique because very few people think of doing it. It helps if you have the creative spirit to make really beautiful shapes with charcoal. Do not be afraid to use powerful and definitive strokes. It will only make your painting more beautiful and you can even preserve it for a very long time.

Watch a video instruction on how to draw with charcoal