Charcoal Drawing: The Timeless Technique

If you're a budding artist who wants to specialize in sketching and drawing, the medium originating from human ancestors and developed by the masters is the best place to start.

Charcoal art has existed for eons now and is arguably older than any known art medium. In fact, one of the oldest preserved art pieces are made of this material: the 16,000 year-old cave paintings in Altamira, Spain and Lascaux, France, which portray prehistoric animals and men, are actually made of charcoal and natural pigments. Also, classical masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Durer practiced their craft with charcoal, producing hundreds of priceless drawings, sketches and studies.

Sketching allows you to produce different angles, interpretations and styles you may want to try out before putting your image directly on the canvas. It also allows a primary visualization of the figure or figures before the colors and other parts are implemented. This is a technique used by many painters and even sculptors as a precursor to their work.

In drawing, charcoal is used by artists primarily in three forms:

• Powdered charcoal is typically used for covering large sections of the art surface for toning purposes. Toning will allow areas to darken further when drawn upon, but can also be lightened up with the use of erasers.

• Compressed charcoal is basically strips of charcoal pressed into wood, plastic or bound to strings to produce charcoal pencils. The amount of the binding material will determine the stick's hardness.

• Vine charcoal is a style that originated in the East. In this style, the charcoal is created by burning wooden strips into various consistencies (hard and soft, light and heavy). An example of this form is the Japanese bamboo charcoal tool known as the Sumi-e (“Ink-and-wash”).

Although a limited form because of the qualities of the medium - short-lived, smudgy and easily erased – charcoal drawing is perfect for someone who wants to develop his or her abilities on the most basic level.