Charcoal is a unique medium that can be used to create detailed or more expressive sketches and drawings, predominately in grey and black tones. Enabling levels of smudging and blending, this drawing medium is a great place to start when drawing from life.

History of Charcoal

Charcoal is made when twigs of vine or willow are heated at a high temperature and deprived of oxygen, creating a stick that spreads rich black marks when applied to paper or canvas. The use of charcoal in art dates back thousands and thousands of years, with evidence of its use in cave paintings. Charcoal was used by Renaissance artists to create sketches for paintings, however it is loved and used by many artists today for its value as a fine art medium and for its ability to create a contrast between light and dark values (also known as chiaroscuro). Charcoal can also be used in conjunction with other mediums such as pastels, and produces beautiful effects when applied to toned papers.

Types of Charcoal

Compressed Charcoal

Compressed Charcoal is a traditional, smooth and smudgy drawing stick that is easy to use, and offers stunning shade depth.  Compressed Charcoal is intense and blendable, making it perfect for line work, detail, sketching, shading, and covering large areas. It can also be mixed and blended with a little water to create subtle wash effects.

Willow Charcoal

Willow Charcoal is softer and lighter in colour than compressed charcoal and can be used alone or with other drawing media. Willow Charcoal is suitable for beginners or professionals and can be smudged and blended with fingertips or a paper stump, and be erased with a Kneadable Eraser to reveal highlights. Made from willow rods, repeated slow-burning allows non-compressed charcoals to combine, creating a deep black hue, a uniform texture, and a soft, velvety touch. Willow charcoal is particularly well suited to free-flowing strokes and techniques and for blending.

Charcoal Pencils

Charcoal is an essential drawing medium for artists of all levels. In pencil form, charcoal is less messy and offers greater control. If you need to create linework, charcoal pencils will come in handy. They're available in a variety of hardness levels to give you different results, and can be used for quick sketch techniques or to add fine details to drawings. They are easily smudged and blended, and highlights can be created with a Kneadable Eraser. Plus, they sharpen like graphite pencils.

Woodless Charcoal Pencils

Mont Marte Signature Woodless Charcoal Pencils are made of superior grade charcoal, and can be used on an angle for broad strokes or with the sharpened point for fine details. Woodless (compressed) charcoal pencils are slightly harder than willow and create a dark, rich mark. You can use them for covering large areas or creating fine lines. The set comes in 3 grades of charcoal - soft, medium & hard, and is lacquer coated for clean handling and have a solid weighty feel. These are great for adding detail to charcoal illustrations.

Coloured Charcoal

Charcoal can also be found in a variety of earthy colours that provide beautiful tonal contrast, making the creative possibilities endless.  Tinted charcoal is available in both pencil and block form, and are great for capturing a range of subjects from landscapes, life drawings, portraits and more.

White Charcoal

White charcoal can be used to create beautiful drawings on toned paper. You can also use it in combination with dark charcoal to create highlights and build depth.

The best paper to use when working with Charcoal

When working with Charcoal, its best to opt for a paper with a rough texture (or more tooth), as this helps give your charcoal something to “grip” to. Toned paper can also provide a beautiful surface for your charcoal piece, and is available in a variety of stunning shades.

How to sharpen Charcoal

Charcoal is a very fragile medium, so its best to a hobby knife to sharpen your charcoal rather than a conventional sharpener. To sharpen, carefully slide the knife away from yourself along the tip of the pencil to create a point.

Fine tooth sand paper is also useful for sanding back your charcoal to create a fine tip.

How to use charcoal

Use gloves

Charcoal can be a bit messy, so many artists like to use cotton gloves to prevent their piece from smudging while working.

Use Blending stumps

To create smooth transitions and blends, use blending stumps or tortillons. Blending with Paper Stumps and Tortillons adds soft subtle shading that can bring life-like realism and dimension to your drawings.

Paper stumps have double-ended points and are larger than the tortillons. They provide a wide surface and are great for creating a transition of tones in large areas. Fine sandpaper can be used to gently clean or resharpen the paper stump.

Tortillons are also used for blending charcoal and pastels. They are smaller and thinner than the stumps and are ideal for shading in small areas or even adding fine details. To resharpen or clean the Tortillon carefully unwrap and tear off the paper at the pointed ends.

You can also use your fingers if you don’t mind getting messy.

Step back from your work

It’s important to remember to take a step back from your work, no matter what you are working on to get an idea of perspective and what might need further attention.

Use an eraser to create highlights

Kneadable erasers are great for adding highlights, lightening tones or removing mistakes. You can knead them into a fine or broad tips to tailor them to the area you want to remove.

Start with light areas first and build up darker tones

It’s easier to start out with light areas and build up darker tones.

How to conserve your charcoal artwork

Once your artwork is complete, the best way to protect your drawing after it's done is by using a fixative such as the Micador Workable Mat fixative, the Nuart fixative, or the Krylon Workable Fixatif. You can use tissue paper as a divider when storing artwork, and can also frame your work and keep it behind glass for added protection.

Got questions? Send us an email at customerservice@artshedonline.com.au and our friendly team of artists will do their best to support you!

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Happy creating!