Charcoal is one of the first tools humans used to make artwork, appearing in cave paintings dating back 28,000 years. Artists have refined the medium from burnt wood to finely-ground charcoal bound with wax or gum into sticks, crayons, and pencils. During the Renaissance, charcoal was often used to create gestural sketches to prepare for a painting, but charcoal’s range of expression makes it a beautiful medium for finished work — from the gentle ochre used in Da Vinci’s Study of a Woman’s Hands to the intense black of Redon’s spiders.
Leonardo da Vinci 'Study of a Woman's Hands' - 1490
Odilon Redon 'The Smiling Spider' - 1881
Compressed Charcoal can be draw and left without blending. Vine Charcoal can be smeared into the paper. Charcoals can be used with water to create a watercolor effect.
Compressed Charcoal is darker and is often compressed into a square shape.
Vine Charcoal is a lighter gray and is often made from burnt grape vines or burnt willow tree branches.
Kneaded Erasers can be shaped for detail or used wide and are best used to erase charcoal and lightly shaded areas.
Lighting & Shading
Emphasizing a light source with highlights, shadows, and cast shadows it one of the most important things to remember when working with charcoal.
The large dark shadow provides a somber mood for the portrait.
A simple still life of 'Eggs' is much more effective with good lighting.
These trees show texture, movement and perspective to make the artworks more dynamic and interesting.
Charles White 'Harvest Talk' - 1953
Charcoal is wonderful to use for blending to produce gradients of lights and darks. Once blended, artists go back on top of the blended charcoal to add details, erase highlights, and darken areas for shadows.
Charcoal + Pastel
A color was added with pastels to help add interest to these animals.
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas used charcoal and pastel to create his quick sketches for his famous paintings of dancers, bathers, and horses at the races.
Frank Auerbach
Charcoal with Style Aurerbach uses quick lines blended in to create an textured background and abstract quality to the work of art. He often goes back and reworks the image over and over until he is happy. He worked on his Self Portrait for over 70 different sittings.
Frank Auerback's ' Head of Catherine'
Frank Auerbach's 'Self Portrait'
Fiona Tang uses contrast and dark lines with movement to create a fierce action packed charcoal drawing of this bear.
Charcoal + Water
Charcoal can be adhered with water and a brush to produce a nice watercolor effect.
Charcoal + Watercolors
Often one color can be added to create a nice monochromatic picture or two colors for an analogues artwork or a bolder complementary color theory.