Tis the Season
With Christmas just around the corner, I’ve been busy working on the first of a few gift drawings. Having just finished my vine charcoal drawing from the previous post, my head was fully in charcoal mode and ready to keep going with another drawing. This particular piece is for an art exchange at my local art league and had to meet certain parameters – an approximate size of 5″ x 7″ which is much smaller than I prefer to work. Due to the size restrictions, I chose to work with charcoal pencils in order to have a finer point while working.
Starting with General’s charcoal pencils, I quickly abandoned them after many frustrating attempts to sharpen them. Honestly – if these things cannot be sharpened with a brand new hand-held sharpener without the lead breaking, then I just fail to see the point in making and/or using them, and feel that General’s should address the problem. Thankfully, I had a few Berol charcoal pencils that I bought in college but hardly ever used. These are the kind with the string buried in the shaft that you pull – and then peel off the layers of paper when you need more charcoal exposed. I found that I could get a nice long tip with these that I could then sharpen on my sandpaper sharpening block (my new favorite way to sharpen anything). They’re pretty strong, too. I began with a medium to lay in the darkest darks, then switched to a hard for most of the drawing. The hard gave me a nice range of values and I found the wood textures on the door much easier to render than I expected. To finish it out, I used a General’s white charcoal pencil (this one worked just fine) and laid in the highlights as well as the light metal tones on the lock.
A relatively simple drawing, this only took me about four to five hours from start to finish. I think the texture of the paper is a little too noticeable, but this is to be expected working with charcoal at such a small size. Overall, I’m fairly pleased with it and feel it is a gift that I can be proud to give away – which, in the end, is the most important thing!
the finished drawing - black & white charcoal on gray canson paper
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At 64 I’m just beginning to enter into the vast world of artistic expression. I’m fighting to learn to draw first with graphite, but I find myself drawn to charcoal, tinted charcoal, pastels (chalk), and also to colored pencils. I found you while searching through the American Artist on line. They seem more inclined to oils, acrylics and water colors. Thank you for having an open blog on charcoal renderings. I truly find the “Old Lock” to be a challenge for my endeavors as I seek to get beyond scribbling on paper. Chas
Hi Chas – thanks for your comments. I’m glad to hear that my blog is providing some info that is needed out there. Although I’ve had formal training at an art school, I still find myself doing hours of reading and research to know how to use certain mediums (like charcoal), and it can get confusing at times…
Learning to draw is a long road that requires a lot of practice. You might consider looking around for a local art league that offers workshops or checking out some books in your library. In my personal opinion, I would recommend working with pencil and/or vine charcoal before moving into pastels and paints. It’s best to start with black & white in order to learn how to accurately portray value (levels of black & white). Once you’ve got your values figured out, then you can slowly begin introducing color. That’s how the schools teach it, anyway… Good luck on your journey!
H-B A,
Thank you for you comments and your various tips based on experience. I have some vine charcoal and now have some new knowledge on how to approach it’s use.
I have many books on drawing but strangely my first favorite is “Drawing For Dummies.” Though it my seem rather basic, it was the first book that put forth the position of staying with graphite for at least two years before moving on to anything else. That’s why I made the comment that I fighting within myself to forgo the other challenges of pastels, & etc., because I had already jumped ahead into some experiments with them.
I’m just now trying to socialize with the local art community. My major goal is to find a knowledgeable and willing teacher to learn from.
Thank you for your desire to help others grow in this wonderful world of art.
Happy New Year! Chas
Hi, I found your artwork while I was looking for a suitable picture to draw and I found yours! The Old Lock is really unique and beautiful and I chose this drawing to draw for my assignment
I want to improve on my shading and my value so this drawing really helps me a lot.