Tuesday 11 November 2014

Using charcoal to create tone pattern and texture

I enjoy working with charcoal but I need a lot of space and I can't imagine using it anywhere than at home or in a life class as I always get smudges all over my face

 I found that there was not a lot of difference between the thick and thin sticks, it was all down to how I applied it to the paper. A light touch gave a thin line a heavy touch a thicker one. The small stick used on it's side gave a satisfyingly thick line.
 These were done on some old lining paper, the bottom "caterpillar" was from fingerprints with a few outlines
 The 2 squares on the left were done with the same piece of charcoal letting the edge become more angled with each stroke to get more thickness. The bottom middle one was a thick stick on it's side.
I tried a bit of embellishment.
For me the paper made all the difference. I wanted a big sheet so that I was more open to big movements but when I went back to my A4 sketchbook there was a better tooth and I felt more relaxed as the charcoal caught easily on the paper rather than sliding over it.
 Some work with blocks of different intensity and some highlighting at the bottom. I'm not a fan of lifting the charcoal as it doesn't give a clean mark, I'd rather smudge and accentuate with more charcoal or try not to cover everything with charcoal in the first place.
Finally some more sweeping marks.

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