My favorite thing about charcoal is going into public not realizing I have smudge marks after scratching my face while drawing causing me to look like a forlorn 19th century chimney sweep boy.
I am professional artist and instructor here in Chelsea, Manhattan and I also create with charcoal. I love the medium and its ancient history....It was probably first used the very night that prehistoric cave primates, possibly Homo Habilis, 2million years ago or Homo Erectus,1 million years ago, first controlled fire and cooked a meal with burning wood. After dinner they must have played around with the burnt wood, smudging each others faces for fun and later maybe to scare any rivals that would come into their territory to take resources. Wonderful video! ...I liked and subscribed!
Great video about such a great medium. I teach a 12 week beginner, intermediate drawing class that continues into an advanced session. That class can go another 12 weeks so we cover a lot. On day one I tell students they won’t be using erasers to fix mistakes in my class and many folks get upset. As we get deeper into the class the eraser is finally introduced as a tool to strengthen values and negative space. Each session I marvel as they suddenly see my reasoning for allowing erasers back into their tool box. By the advanced session everyone is doing negative pull drawings and using pan pastel with graphite powder. Their drawings are all loose with dramatic texture and tonal values. I’m truly blessed to see these advancements happen right in front of my eyes and I have graphite to thank for it. Have fun and happy drawing everyone.
Here’s some thing that might also help I’ve leaned thanks for a beautiful video. Pan pastel is ‘kind of erasable’ but leaves a mark … as you can see in video - worth trying an electric eraser very price and clean also using a light warm grey toned paper just saves so much time if your going with tones background. Tracing paper between sheets of sketch books works. Also great for putting over drawing already done to avoid smudging with arm. Best smoothest most erasable charcoal pencils I’ve used with good quality of wood are ‘Generals’ from America. Sand paper blocks collect A LOT of charcoal dust.. so worth storing block in a sandwich bag and saving the charcoal dust. Long stick she’s using is called a ‘Maul stick’. A small piece of leather rag used for cleaning windows is fabulous for removing charcoal. Using fixative reduces the gap between different tones - darks become lighter and light loose a little. So some times after fixing it’s worth just re-adding some highlights just to make drawing ping. Hair spay also works great as fixative but not if it’s got vitamins added. I’m interested in idea of fixing a base layer of charcoal the drawing over this … but I need more exploration of that idea. Using a ‘pencil extender’ with a piece of charcoal has advantage of being cleaner and like a long paint brush puts some distance between you and the work… to avoid charcoal breakage using a thicker piece of charcoal then gently sharpening seems the way to go even wrapping base of charcoal with a little tissue …this method has a wonderfully freeing painterly feel. A useful addition to the tool kit is wet wipes and dry tissues for hands. As I’m constantly getting them dirty. I also have a little battery powered vacuum for floor as when a piece is dropped on floor if it’s stepped on it’s impossible to remove. Hope this is helpful to someone.
This is how charcoal captured me as well. Tried it in highschool and had a very negative experience. Got back into drawing again at the beginning of the pandemic and went straight for graphite. A year later I tried charcoal again, fell in love with it and never looked back. It's expressive, mysterious and cloudy, incredibly forgiving and you can reach super high levels of contrast .
Once I saw Nathan Fowkes charcoal portrait drawings I was hooked, and completely switched to the softest compressed charcoal possible and never looked back. Running the Cretacolor Chunky Charcoal 495 00 stick on paper for the first time was a revelation for me. I was already dirty to my ears in charcoal and all I made was a sphere.
Ive been struggling so hard with it for a month now, switched to tan paper and started using a white charcoal pencil and some grey pastels in addition to compressed, took everything i learned and it finally clicked, produced my first portrait ever that I don't hate. I cannot say the same for graphite despite it being my primary medium. Think im gonna go all in and get the powders and special brushes. You sold me. Thanks for sharing your art with us.
You have a wonderfully calm voice, your channel name is quite perfect! Reminds me of great meditating videos I used to listen to, with super soothing voices. Great taste in birds as well, crows are wonderful! Charcoal is also something that clicked with me (I'm just getting started though). I also fell in love with the depth of contrast and the fact that with a very few amounts of strokes, a drawing can come to life in such amazing, almost magical ways...
Oh, you hit me deep when you brought up graphite becoming a silvery mess because you overdid the graphite trying to get certain areas darker. It's horrible when that happens. Ugh, then I have to start over. Good thing I have Light tablet for tracing. 😊
I’m very much a beginner in terms of charcoal drawing. This video was HUGELY informative and helpful. Thank you. Very excited to be making charcoal drawings.
I really enjoyed your video. I like Charcoal. I used it more back in art school than I do now. I still have a portfolio of some of those pieces. Your work is beautiful!
Wonderful information (Jättebra!) and thank you for sharing your knowledge. And I totally get you on the smudge marks everywhere!! BTW, alcohol and kitchen paper towels remove it quickly but wet wipes are the best IMO. Great choice on Corvids too - love them and they are so damn smart!! A few other tips from what I’ve found: #1) For the tombow, for very fine lines cut the end off at an angle!! #2) To stop smudging in your sketchbook tape some glassine paper to cover the charcoal. Like adding in a extra page and bind/tape to folding edge. #3) Use glassine paper to rest on and cover work whilst drawing too avoiding the smudging.
Thank you so much for this very helpful --and calming---video! You covered a lot. I'd never tried toning the paper, or using smooth textured paper------ and never thought of using Pan Pastels------or the stick with the ball on the end. Back in my sign-painter days, we referred to it as a mahl stick.
I tried pastel and pan pastel, then I went to black pastel and now I really love charcoal. I love the drama of black and white, if I find a reference I edit it to black n white and do a charcoal drawing from it. It is soooo expressive and rich , I like it far better than pastel or graphite.
Very helpful! Thank you! I also am into depicting crows and ravens in charcoal right now, and doing studies on different papers. And we have a resident crow family that hangs out in the yard around my studio, providing lots of inspiration!
'Thank you' Louise for this marvelous video! I, too, am completely taken by charcoal and the pan pastel experience. It feels like sculpting to me and the open-ended ease of creations is pure joy...you really conveyed it all in 20 minutes! Mollie
Thank you for sharing. I’m hoping to start a charcoal piece of my wife. But I haven’t worked up the courage to do it. Watching your video certainly helped
You just made me your fan.. the way you spoke and approach towards the drawings and painting hobby to achieve enjoy happiness and satisfying for the creative and artistic minds who are stuck with boring IT jobs.
What a great video! Thank you so much for sharing your tools and process. I am slowly reintroducing myself to charcoal and watching this was really, really helpful.
Black is my favorite color! I’m new to drawing, painting (was) my favorite art media however I tried drawing a crow in charcoal LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!! 🖤🖤🖤😍
Impressive ! Actually what astounded me was that I use the same laptop ‘table’ to do my drawings..actually I got it so that I could eat my meals in bed while watching tv but I found a better use for it…I am definitely going to try charcoal.I have tried to in the past but like you soda I didn’t like the mess…but I will have a go at it once again ..Thank you.Keep inspiring and stay blessed.
I saw your 'quitting instagram' video on my YT page and watched that, then was intrigued to see the kind of work you do. I absolutely love the charcoal drawings, love black & white and love birds, so you now have another subscriber. Beautiful work and I really enjoyed watching your process. I have a lot of charcoal medium but hadn't seen the pan pastel before, so I'm inspired to do some charcoal artwork and I'll be visiting my local art supplies shop tomorrow! Thank you, Louise. :)
Wow, thank you so much! 🖤 And welcome. And hope you'll have lot of fun with the pan pastel. I should make some more videos about that soon. Need to practice. 😌
Exactly the same! I am a coloured pencil artist and fed up with FB and IG and bird lover. When I saw the thumbnail of this video and had to check it out. These are awesome!
I adore crows your Crow is darling! This video covered all about charcole so thanks for sharing Louise because I always wanted to know... My favourite is watercolour it was love at first sight just bonded with it 💜
Oh my goodness, since you recommened your fave artists in your last video, I have become quite obsessed with charcoal drawings (something I never really use). I am in love with the emotive quality of the marks you can make with it.... it dark, its moody, it's really alive. Your crows are gorgeous! And gosh, thank you for introducing me to Mad Charcoal's work. I'd really like to experiment more with this medium, and make some art that has feeling and atmosphere.
you and I are so alike graphite wasn’t cutting it for me! I do faces, and it’s been a learning experience with charcoal but I love it. I love the darkness. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you, Louise. I'm just beginning to work with charcoal (I think I'm going to become addicted to it). This video is very helpful! Your art work is gorgeous.
Do you copy images from a book? From photographs? From life? Live your tutorial. Very lovely soft and soothing to watch and listen to- and learn from! Your work is inspiring and I love birds, so am very impressed with your skillful renderings! Thank you.
Me too, black and white, we should all be seen the world in black and white. A nostalgic feeling the black and white would give you and also dry and undefined configuration. All my portraits are in charcoal.
Those birds are fabulous! I just bought a load of really cheap willow charcoal from an art shop that was getting rid of that section so I can't wait to try using it. Thanks for the inspiration!
A piece of tracing paper held on one end with a piece of drafting tape (so you can easily lift the untaped side) helps protect from smudging. I do that for graphite.
Thanks, Louise. I very much enjoyed this video and learnt a lot from it. I used to enjoy art when I was young but never really took it anywhere. But now I have more time I have decided to get back into it. I have been looking around for what medium I would like to use and I find charcoal appeals to me the most. In fact listening to you explain why you enjoy working in black and white it sounded as if I was talking to myself. One of the things I love with black and white photography is the dynamic contrast it can bring. One of the surprising discoveries is how many different forms charcoal takes. As well as sticks and pencils you can get it in blocks, powder, pastels, paint pans and tubes. And not just in black but coloured as well. I am going to enjoy exploring all of these. I see we also share a love for the corvids, a highly intelligent birds. I also noticed your drawings of the octopus. Again highly intelligent, very inquisitive and self taught. Thanks again
I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. This is the most helpful video I have seen on charcoal and it has got me excited to start drawing again now that I know the best products to use. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for this-I never tried charcoal cux it's so messy. But I don't know, I tried it just for the hell of it and I CAN'T stop-I freakin love it!! It's a blast what u can do with it!!
Charcoal is very subtle, unlike acrylic and oils. Shadow- essence and the colourful manifestation- unfolding. Both complement each other. The raw, tactile charcoal complementing the other mediums applied with instruments. A red phoenix rising from charred coal. Time to have some fun 😄
Thank you for your crows. I love one of our bird that was introduced to our country and is classified as a pest but I love the call it makes to its mate and its colouring. It’s a Mag pie.
Such amazing info! I'd already noticed that it was super hard to erase on grainier paper, and I wondered if that was just me because many people recommended very grainy paper for charcoal, "the grainier the better", but clearly as you say it's a double-edged sword, and it seems in the end that one may lose the white of the paper in the process of reaching for darker blacks... Kind of a bummer. Wished I'd seen your video first!
I just bought a charcoal pencil without knowing how to use it 😁 and your video helps a lot, thank you. And your voice is really calming, really enjoy watching your video ❤❤
Try baking paper between pages, use a small piece of tape to hold it at the top or on the side to stop it from sliding around - you can also use a fixative spray to reduce the smudging further...
Hi, thanks you for sharing your knowledge about charcoal, i've draw some pieces with them and i try your process, and like it ! It's so simple and clear, it help me to improve myself with charcoal ! Cheers and take care of you.
hi. enjoyed that. been using charcoal for years. spectrafix do a fixative that is non toxic and used with a fine mist spray thing. its a little less refined than traditional fixatives, tends to be abit splattery. which can help if you have a very loose painterly quality. lots of youtubers...... showing spectrafix. personally i prefer a homemade sanded surface so i dont have to deal with fixatives. oh yeah, natural hog brushes for detailed blending in tight spots. all other hair types are more like erasers in varying degrees. packaging peanuts of great blending tools too. hope you many years of enjoyment messing with this wonderfull medium.
I know you said you like corvids. Beautiful birds. I have been studying birds for 50 years. Plenty of black and white birds. Chickadees Vultures Bobolinks Puffins Catbirds Monjitas I could go on and on. Would love to see you draw some of those. Birds rock!!!!
Very helpful thanks Louise! I hope you have come across Butcherbirds in your drawing adventures as they are just your type! They come and sing to me outside my window while I paint (in Australia) :)
I'm currently working on getting into a new art area which is using the photos I've taken as guides for pictures I'm going to start making sketched works with. Then selling them through my website. I have to admit, this video was definitely interesting, showing me how to work with charcoal in ways I never thought of. Looking forward to trying it out. Thank you.
Me too ! The most ancient of mediums and absolutely yes! Having a love affair with it & pan pastel which I first saw ‘Mad charcoal’ working with is just so freeing and versatile !
Hello Art by Louise. My i give you a tip for protecting you,re sketchbook charcole drawings? Use hair spray on you,re charcole drawings. It works the same as a fixative spray, its cheaper than a fixative spray and you have no toxics. I hope this helps you👍🏾🖐🏾😊😁
