Charcoal

Using charcoal for portraits

Charcoal has been used in art for centuries and was one of the most basic art materials that artists used. Today however, it has developed into a more sophisticated drawing medium.

There are three main types of charcoal as used by modern artists, the first being the traditional Charcoal Sticks. These are sometimes known as Vine Charcoal and usually made from Willow or Tilia which is also known as Lime. The natural sticks come in soft, medium and hard forms and are generally used for sketching.

Charcoal can now be obtained in a form known as Compressed Charcoal which is made from charcoal powder. The powder is mixed with a gum binder to produce round or square sticks. These are a little less messy than the traditional charcoal sticks. The binder in the mix holds the carbon more effectively, thus creating less carbon dust.

Compressed charcoal is also an ingredient for the manufacture of Charcoal pencils. The charcoal is mixed with very fine clays and bound in Californian Cedar Wood barrels to produce the pencils. These are also less dusty than traditional charcoal sticks and come in three grades of intensity, light, medium and dark. The lighter the grade, the more clay is in the mix. A great deal of detail work can be achieved with charcoal pencils, as the clay binder holds the material well and a fine point on the pencils is possible.

It is now possible to buy Tinted Charcoal pencils. This product is a modern development in the pencil industry. The charcoal pencil process of manufacture is basically the same but colour pigment is also added. This gives the pencils a colour cast or tint to the charcoal. They tend to come in a single degree of hardness, unlike the black charcoal pencils.

Charcoal Powder is also available for producing large areas of tonal work on a drawing. This is usually worked in with the fingers or with a blending tool, but it can be quite a messy process and very dusty.