Drawing with Charcoal

Charcoal as a Medium

Charcoal is a versatile and dramatic medium with incredible potential for expression. This stunning book shows you how to create a drawing using its subtle, complex and bold qualities to best effect.

Learning Process

Through step-by-step demonstrations and tasks, it explores the process, explaining how to capture a scene or the feeling of a scene, and, essentially, how best to fix an image to the page. With over 200 illustrations, this beautiful book is a compelling guide for everyone who wants to work with this elusive and powerful medium.

Topics Covered

The basics of charcoal – explains the material, its qualities and ways of using it;

Charcoal lenses – advises on how to choose interesting subjects with the use of photography and sketchbooks, and how to build a library of visual references;

Mark making – includes techniques for complete beginners, as well as more advanced ideas for those hoping to develop and refine their work;

Demonstrations – shows how to use the techniques and build a body of work;

Soft pastel – suggests ways of combining charcoal with pastel to add colour to your work;

Tasks and extensions – gives tips for trying and exploring ideas further to develop your own skills and to create a unique style to your work;

Protecting your work – advises on the key techniques used for fixing, photographing, storing and framing your work.