Charcoal pencil drawings. Learning to draw with charcoal. Basic materials and techniques for working with coal. Methods of drawing with charcoal

If you want to learn how to draw with charcoal, we recommend reading this lesson, in which we will look in detail at the basics of drawing techniques.

Take an object that you want to depict. For example, an old jug. It is advisable to use only one light source to get a good shadow. You will need the actual coal, a rubber band, a piece of rag for blurring and a separate blank sheet.

Let's start from the middle

We started our drawing “from the middle,” initially painting the area of the drawing with the midtones of our future painting. Then, as we draw, we will define the highlights and shadows. Train your eyes to look for light and dark areas of objects. Paint evenly, leaving no white gaps. If necessary, use a rag to smear, but don't apply too much pressure or it will be difficult to clean later.

Determining the shape

The next stage of drawing can be quite quick. Look at your subject as a whole, noting dark and light areas. Mark the dark edges with charcoal, without worrying too much about accurately reproducing the shape. Use an eraser and a rag to mark the light edges. Your subject begins to quickly appear in the drawing.

Correcting the shape and adding volume

Use a rag and a piece of paper to even out the tones. The cloth highlights, and a piece of paper evenly mixes the shades. Clearly mark the dark areas, do not forget about the base. A well-defined base will only enhance the voluminous effect and clearly define the shadows.

Finishing touches

Twist the edge of the elastic to maximum thinness to create the highest quality highlights. Here, for example, this is especially important on the jug's spout and handle. We wiped the base of the jug and added shadows. Notice how dark some areas are. Use this moment to add even more expressiveness to the drawing.

Try, create and

Plants are an invariable component of landscapes and most still lifes. Today we will look at drawing irises with charcoal. Follow the advice of the tutorial - from the location of the object on the sheet to finishing touch, - and you will be able to masterfully draw a flower

DRAWING WITH CHARCOAL

This drawing medium has many different forms. This photo shows from bottom to top: a stick of natural charcoal of a cylindrical shape; a rectangular stick of natural charcoal; charcoal pencil; Another type of charcoal pencil is in a paper frame, which you tear off little by little as the tip of the pencil wears off; and a cylindrical stick of coal in a metal frame. Natural charcoal for drawing adheres well to paper and is easily rubbed, so it can be used to achieve expressive top effects; A charcoal pencil can create sharper lines and strokes, but they don't rub off as easily.

The use of shading and soft matter.

Shading brushes of various sizes are designed for rubbing charcoal strokes and applying tone in narrow places. They are made from tightly rolled paper, with conical or sharp tips. Use the tapered end to work in small areas. Crumpled soft material can be used to erase unsuccessful places in a design made with natural charcoal. (Chalk marks are more difficult to erase.) Using a piece of soft cloth, you can also rub the tone over large area drawing.

How to hold coal.

When a piece of natural charcoal breaks or wears down to a small piece, you can buy a frame and place the remaining piece in it. Hold the charcoal by the rim as if you were holding a brush; Your fingers should be positioned further away from the tip of the charcoal stick so that you get distinct lines. If you are working with just a carbon point, without a rim, hold it in the same way, but your fingers should be closer to the tip, otherwise the point will break. A charcoal pencil is held in the same way, but you can hold it. like a regular pencil.

Rubber bands (erasers).

Charcoal is easily erased, and when working with it, artists use a plastic eraser. In the store you can recognize it by its square shape. It kneads like clay or putty and takes any shape you like. You can roll the eraser into a large ball for cleaning large areas of the design, or shape the eraser into a pointed shape for working on small details. By pressing and immediately removing the rubber band, you will remove most tones You need to rub with such an eraser as lightly as possible and only in extreme cases, since this leads to abrasion of the surface of the paper.

Drawing lines and strokes.

The simplest way to draw with charcoal is to combine thin lines with wider strokes on regular drawing paper. In this fragment of a landscape, with the thick, blunt end of a charcoal pencil, the tone is applied in loose strokes to the trunks of three trees. The artist darkens the tones on the trunks using stronger pressure. Then, with the sharp, thin tip of a hard charcoal pencil, he draws the branches and twigs with clearer lines.

Paper intended for drawing with charcoal.

Paper intended for drawing with charcoal, but equally suitable for working with chalk and pencil, has a slightly corrugated and very dense surface. On such a surface, shading perfectly produces soft, vibrant tones, as you can see in this fragment of the portrait. You will not damage the paper even by frequent erasing, which can be seen in the illuminated areas of the face. The surface of the paper is suitable for applying broad strokes, such as the hair, and clear lines, such as the eyes.

Drawing lines and tones.

To create soft, delicate tones, the artist works with hard and medium-hard charcoal pencils, rubbing strokes using shading. First, he applies lighter colors to the tree trunks and rubs the strokes, then darker ones and rubs them again. On thick branches, the strokes are rubbed with the tip of a shading brush, while thin branches are drawn with a charcoal pencil and not rubbed. It's important to know when to stop shading, otherwise your drawing will look messy.

Paper with a rough surface.

Paper with a rough texture, with big amount The so-called cloves are also perfect for drawing with charcoal. Thanks to the uneven surface of the paper, shaded areas look more alive - pay attention to the texture of the shadow on the skin. The broad strokes used to draw the hair are even more distinct on this type of paper. And the sharp, sharpened lines that depict eyelashes and eyebrows look uneven and alive.

Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with

The skill of some artists surpasses all boundaries. They paint with anything: oil, acrylic paints, coal, ballpoint pens or with a simple pencil, - but their work cannot be distinguished from photographs. The considerable perseverance and talent of the authors make these works more than just photocopies. They contain life, the artist’s vision, emotions and the illusion of the world in which we live.

website collected 15 artists, looking at whose works we literally cannot believe our eyes.

Diego Fazio

Diego works like an inkjet printer, starting to draw from the edge of the sheet. Draws with a simple pencil and charcoal. It takes the artist 200 hours of work to create one portrait.

Gregory Tilker

Gregory Tilker paints his “rainy” canvases with a brush, using watercolor and oil paints. Viewing Gregory's paintings is like traveling by car on a cold, stormy day.

Ruth Tyson

British artist Ruth Tyson, like many of her colleagues, does not have an artistic education, but has an original manner of performing her works. She draws with graphite and watercolor pencils, but sometimes he also takes on paints.

Roberto Bernardi

It's hard to believe that Roberto Bernardi's "sweet" still lifes were not filmed. Each still life conveys reflections on the glossy surface of the table, folds and highlights with amazing accuracy.

Robin Eley

London artist creates large-scale realistic paintings oil In the paintings of this collection, the artist gracefully “hides” nudity human bodies transparent film.

Gottfried Helnwein

In his works Helnwein mainly uses watercolor paints. He works as a painter, draftsman, photographer, sculptor and artist, revealing all aspects of his talent.

Vincent Fatauzo

Works of the famous Australian artist Vincent Fatauzo's works are exhibited all over the world. The portrait of Heath Ledger was painted a few weeks before the actor's death.

Camalchi Laureano

Kamalki Laureano is a talented Dominican artist. He uses the technique of painting with acrylic paints on canvas. For him, work is not just an imitation of photography, but an imitation of life.

Paul Cadden

Thomas Arvid

Thomas has no formal education. Having developed mastery using his own training system, the artist came to his own theme - the theme of wine. This is how “ Wine Vault Thomas Arvid" - a series of works with images of bottles, corks, corkscrews and glasses with sparkling drinks.

Coal. It is highly likely that the very first graphic material in human history was a simple coal from a fire. They have been drawing with it at all times and it is surprising that even now it has not lost its relevance and the love of artists.

Coal is a very beautiful material with great graphic capabilities. It gives a wide range of tone, beautiful velvety and varied texture. They draw on paper, cardboard and canvas, combining with any other soft materials(sepia, sanguine and chalk), but more often used as a self-sufficient remedy.

It's great for sketching and allows you to create dynamic, lively drawings. The material rubs beautifully, is quickly adjusted, can be easily erased with an eraser and self-sharpens during the drawing process. They can apply thin strokes and create broad “strokes” by drawing with a plane. Technique charcoal drawing even gave rise to such a strange term as “picturesque drawing”.

And coal is good for everyone, except for one thing - it adheres very loosely to the surface. This is the most free-flowing graphic material. This is why coal work is very easy to smudge and cannot be stored unsecured.

Its softness also has its advantages. You don’t have to be afraid to make a mistake - the material can easily be knocked off the surface with a cloth or the bristles of a brush, and thus the design can be adjusted many times, achieving the best result. That is why it is often used to apply a design to canvas before painting.

Zhaoming Wu. Charcoal portrait. I.E.Repin. Portrait of Eleonora Duse. Charcoal on canvas. Zhaoming Wu. Charcoal portrait. Training production. Coal.

Chinese school . Coal. I.S. Kulikov. Portrait of a peasant woman. Charcoal, pastel. In the 15th century it became widespread in Italy

interesting way fixing the coal, when the design was applied to the surface of the paper coated with glue, and after completion, the work was kept over steam, and thus the coal was fixed. It must be said that people have invented many

different ways

fastening - dipped in a glue solution, treated with rosin dissolved in gasoline, sprayed with skimmed and strained milk from a spray bottle, sprayed with beer, but none of them turned out perfect. Nowadays, charcoal is fixed in the same way as other soft graphic materials - with a special fixative or hairspray. There are two types of coal - natural and pressed. Natural is different

If you live in a private house and have a stove, you can easily make charcoal yourself. When I was little, my father prepared this kind of charcoal for himself for drawing and painting. To do this, he took willow or birch sticks with a diameter of 3-6 mm, peeled from bark, and vertically packed them in a vertical tin can. Then he filled the holes between the rods with sand and closed the jar very tightly so that oxygen would not penetrate into it. For greater confidence in the tightness of the lid, the seams can be covered with clay. Afterwards, it had to be placed in the coals of the stove for 5-6 hours and wait a few more hours until the jar cooled down. The end result was cool artistic charcoal.

I.E.Repin. Portrait of Romanov. Zhaoming Wu Coal. Charcoal portrait.

N.I. Feshin. Sketch.Coal.

Zhaoming Wu. Charcoal portrait. N.I. Feshin. Sketch.Coal. I.E.Repin. Portrait of M.O. Levenfeld. Coal, sanguine. N.I. Feshin. A man from Bali. Coal. Casey Children. Coal. I.E. Repin. Portrait of I.S. Ostroukhov. Coal. The pressed rod was invented in the 19th century. It is made from coal chips, held together with vegetable glue. Unlike wood, it has a regular shape, uniform structure and gives a deeper tone and is produced from one to four hardness numbers. In addition, it adheres better to the surface, although it still requires fixation.

This coal can also be purchased in the form wooden pencils. In practice, a charcoal pencil turns out to be very convenient - it is convenient to draw small details. In Russia, such a pencil is produced under the name “Retouch” of softness 3M (Produced by Krasin). IN

Lately

the quality of “Retouching” leaves much to be desired. I bought it quite recently and was very disappointed - it draws palely and, moreover, it constantly contains scratchy clay lumps. It's a shame, because 15 years ago it was great.

The predecessor of pressed coal in the 19th century was fat coal - this is ordinary wood, but additionally impregnated

vegetable oil

. I have not tried to draw with this material, they say that it gives a darker line and crumbles a little less than simple wood.

Now on sale you can find any charcoal, classic wood, in the form of pressed bars, rods and pencils in a wooden frame. To work with coal, given its flowability, it makes sense to use paper or cardboard with a rough surface.

To summarize, I would like to note that I don’t see much point in drawing with charcoal when pressed charcoal exists. At one time, I suffered greatly with the fragility of my charcoal drawings, and most of them had to be thrown away due to poor preservation. Therefore, when pressed coal appeared on sale, it was happiness and salvation for me.

But you should try working with both to form your own opinion.

There is another wonderful pencil, similar to charcoal, but different in composition - this is the Italian pencil. But more about him in the next article.

For a long time, people have been creating rock carvings of animals to express their emotions - fear, admiration. One of the oldest materials that made it possible to perform such work was coal or soot from fire pits. Beginning with rock paintings In caves, charcoal is still a very popular method of artistic expression.

Natural coal can be divided into two categories:

Disc (charred wood chips)
Soft (obtained from specially selected thin branches of linden, willow vines during combustion with air restriction).

The charcoal drawing technique is used mainly for sketches and works that do not require exact matching of many details. Preparatory work for large scale paintings, as well as architectural sketches or still lifes, are often performed using this technique. Charcoal provides a fast, loose and smooth finish that can be blended with your finger to achieve desired effect. It is also very easy to remove unwanted marks with a paper towel, a special eraser or bread. If there is a need to leave a thick, hard and clear layer, crushed coal should be used, which is made by mixing with clay and a binder and then pressing. Traces of such coal are much more difficult to erase.

Depending on the intended effect, a more textured one is also used for sketch work, so all the color spots and shades in the work will be more realistic. For fixation in the drawing, special so-called “fixatives” are most often used.

Charcoal is often combined with other materials such as chalk or. Almost every student of drawing or painting learns to use charcoal. The ability to handle coal not only helps develop artistic skills, but can also be used in the future as an accessible resource to enrich the artist’s palette. For this reason, many famous masters use coal at least to create sketches.

Many artists use charcoal not only to create sketches, but also (often combined with pastels, which helps create almost surreal images) and landscapes.

Despite the many advantages of coal, it is not simple technique, requiring practice and skill. Even a short break in practicing this method can lead to “forgetting” the acquired skills. This does not change the fact that the designs created by charcoal are remarkable and have a unique appearance.

Also, as a complement to this method, you can use other materials, which will significantly enrich the work.