Online Charcoal drawing Class/Workshop using Zoom App

“Drawing is the ‘bones’ of art. You have to be able to walk before you can run.” Dion Archibald

 Charcoal is probably one of the oldest art materials and is very versatile in nature as a medium. It helps an artist do quick drawings in expressive strokes and the final black and white artwork is so impressive that one easily gets addicted to it. I am one of them. I took to this medium about twenty years back and I continue to be fascinated by it. Some of the advantages of this medium which I feel I need to share with the viewers are as following-

• Great help in creating tonal value drawings
• Helps simplify a complicated scene
• The bold, sweeping strokes helps an artist develop his/ her unique style
• Being a dry medium, it is easy to make corrections 
• Very Economical
• Can be carried easily for outdoor/ plein air works
• It is a fast medium to work with ( Especially if one is doing preliminary study works )

Before the COVID lockdown, I was busy taking private workshops at my studio at home. However now I have started “Online Charcoal drawing and sketching workshop” using ZOOM app. 

Apart from teaching the basics involved in creating a charcoal artwork, I shall also demonstrate step by step, one of the charcoal drawings as shown below. It will be a very interactive session wherein I shall be answering all the queries pertaining to this medium and will also share my personal tips and techniques which I have developed over a period of time. If you wish to attend my charcoal workshop in a group or one on one basis, mail me at manjupanchal5@gmail.com or call me at 91- 9082690127

Some of the basic tools that I shall be using during my demonstration 

for creating the charcoal sketch 

A . Soft piece of cloth used for blending purpose

B. Kneaded Eraser

C.Tortillon ( blending tool )

D. Charcoal powder

E. General very soft charcoal pencil

F. Camlin soft charcoal pencil

G. Willow charcoal 

Most of the above mentioned materials are easily available on online stationery stores like AMAZON, 

KDS art store, Hindustan Trading Company, Creative Hands etc.

CLICK HERE to read in detail about the charcoal tools as I have already created a post in the past.

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM , where in I post my latest artworks regularly. 

Limestone Rocks and cliffs ( Vietnam )

“Watercolor condenses time and consolidates experience.” Frank Marcello

 While at Cam Pha sea port during his last voyage, my husband got to witness the beautiful prehistoric “Limestone Rocks”, it’s reflections and the sudden ripple in the waves caused by a passing vessel. His cargo ship had arrived there at inner anchorage for loading cargo for the next destination. He sent me a few photographs of these stunning rocks and cliffs, which dotted the sea all around and I used them as a reference to create the two water colour paintings as below. 

As mentioned in my earlier posts, I have got pretty much used to working on Chitrapat handmade paper and have taken a strong liking to it. My technique involves working wet on wet and this paper holds a lot of water and stays wet for a longer time. It’s acid free and is made of 100% cotton fibre. It works good for me. I purchase Chitrapat paper from maxa-enterprises ( online store at Pune ), however there a lot many online stores today who sell the same paper so it’s great that one can easily order it online.

Limestone Rocks at Cam Pha Sea Port

A water colour painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

Size 5” X 7”

Wave Ripples

A water colour painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

Size 5” X 7”

For most of my watercolor paintings, I use a mix of Winsor and Newton and Camlin Artist watercolor tubes. They are both good in their own ways. If you are a beginner, I would personally recommend Camlin tubes as it is very economical and has great quality too. Given below are my two palettes which I use for both these brands. I like the Majello palette for its large working space instead of having small wells.

Mijello Palette ( Winsor and Newton watercolors )

Mijello Palette ( Closed )

Palette with Camlin Artist’s water color tubes

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM and if you are interested in attending my online demo workshop send me a mail at manjupanchal5@gmail.com and I shall get back to you with details about the same.

Ship at berth - A water color painting

 “Watercolor can leave me totally deflated and wondering why I chose it as a medium and then I am seduced again by a beautiful wash or the lacework of an intricate detail which is impossible to create in any other medium.” Joseph Zbukvik 

Last year I had the opportunity to visit my husband’s ship which had arrived at New Mangalore port for loading cargo in bulk. One morning when I got up and looked out of the porthole, I saw this “Bulk Carrier” parked at the jetty on the opposite side. It had probably arrived at night for loading. The atmosphere was a bit hazy I loved the scene, the mood and the composition. I had decided then that someday I shall paint the story of this ship. Painting is quite like story telling. I paint what is on my mind and leave the rest to the viewer to interpret it in his/her own way.

I am shuffling between Chitrapat handmade paper and Arches Cold pressed paper as both of them are my personal favourites now. Chitrapat paper is more reasonable as compared to Arches, however for this artwork I wanted to use Arches paper and undoubtedly, using a quality paper makes a big difference. The ship was the focal point of this painting and for the rest of the port infrastructure on the right, avoided too many details. It gave an abstract feel to the painting and I loved the way it turned out.

For most of my water color paintings, I like to use very limited Colors in the palette. For this work I have mainly used ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, permanent orange, and light red. Lesser Colors in the palette, I feel, helps simplify the painting process.

Ship at Berth

A water colour painting on Arches CP paper

Size 5” X 7”

Reference photo taken at 

New Mangalore port

I have already created a few water color paintings in my “Ship series” and plan to create some more very soon. I have also started doing charcoal tonal value sketches of ships and some are already posted on my INSTAGRAM feed. Do check them out.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and I appreciate your support in my art journey.

Charcoal drawing of a forest scene on Strathmore 300 series drawing paper

“There’s nothing like drawing a thing to make you really see it.” Margaret Atwood 

Years back, I got into charcoal medium and got fascinated by it versatility. Initially I started off with just a pencil and charcoal powder but as years progressed, I went on to explore different tools and developed my own technique to create my Charcoal drawings. 

Presently I am more into water color paintings which is one of the most challenging mediums, however I do take out time in between to get back to my charcoal art. It’s a very satisfying experience as it helps in simplifying a complicated composition. Once I know my basic tonal values of the subject, it makes it easier to paint the scene using any other medium. 

Posted below are two of my charcoal drawings of  “Forest scenes”, with reference to my travel photographs.

A walk along the road 

A charcoal drawing on Strathmore drawing paper 

Size 4” X 5”

Along the road

A charcoal drawing on Strathmore drawing paper 

Size 4.5” X 5.5”

There are some charcoal tools which I use on a regular basis as shown below and these are easily available on Online stores.

Camlin and General charcoal pencil

Blending tool

Kneaded eraser

Charcoal powder 

Willow charcoal 

( Local Chinese brand )

On December 2016, I created a detailed post regarding the common tools used by me for my charcoal drawings. CLICK HERE to browse through the same.

If you wish to see all my artworks in Gallery format, visit my INSTAGRAM site where I post my works on a regular basis. Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks.