Ashleigh's Art Corner
Beginning as an Artist Newsletter
This week's focus? Mastering Charcoals
When jumping into charcoals, the introduction can seem quite messy, and it's easy to get lost. What experts recommend is having a focus on values. What do they mean by that?
"It's the range from light to dark, black to white, and can refer to any shade of grey in between"
Understanding values, whether in color or black and white, can lead to drastic improvement in art.
Another skill to practice is distinguishing between soft shading and harsh shading, which can significantly contribute to the realism of a piece. Work from the middle out, keeping the whitest spots of the page untouched by the charcoal, and gradually add shadows to the intended darker areas. Don’t be afraid to be bold with your lines, either, exploring thick and thin ones to add variation.
Finally, make sure you have good tools. The two main things to consider are as listed below:
If there is anything to invest good money in, it's the charcoal itself. Sticks of it are good, but messy and hard to get fine details with, so look into charcoal pencils. Avoid mixing charcoal pencils with graphite ones, as graphite will leave a shiny, almost metallic look to the page compared to charcoal's matte finish.
Don't forget to utilize an eraser, especially a fine line eraser and a kneaded eraser, which can be used for a variety of techniques, including cleanup, adding small white highlights, or lightening a large area all at once without completely erasing.
Although practicing the fundamentals may seem boring at first, it will open the doors to many creative endeavors. Go out and draw!