Portrait drawing on Strathmore Toned paper

"You never outgrow drawing. It's so fundamental to everything." Debra Groessner

I haven’t done a portrait since long.  If you have been following my INSTAGRAM feed, you will know that am into landscape painting these days, both in watercolor as well as pastel medium.

Today's post is a portrait drawing of a beautiful Rajasthani woman on "Strathmore Gray Toned  paper". This paper has a very soft textured surface which works perfectly for my portrait drawing skills. I have used a mix of graphite, charcoal and white pastel pencils to create the tonal variations in the portrait.

Strathmore gray toned paper pad can be purchased online from Amazon.in . I have both gray as well as the toned tan paper pad which I purchased from Blick Art Materials, USA.

"A Glance"

Portrait drawing on Strathmore toned paper

Size 6" X 8"

To know more about the pencils used for the above portrait you can CLICK HERE , ie  my earlier post where I have discussed in detail regarding the same.

 To browse through my latest artworks and techniques you can visit my INSTAGRAM feed and share my works if they inspire you. Thanks.

Portrait drawing on Canson Mi Teintes paper

"Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation." Henri Cartier

While having a holiday in Sikkim, we happened to stay in a homestay in Hee Bermiok, which being high up in the mountains was an adventure in itself. Today’s portrait is of beautiful woman, Deomaya Chettri, the mother of the homestay owner.

 I watched her morning till night, as she got busy in different day today activities. One morning she was busy drying the freshly dug out onions in the sun. With her permission I photographed her so that I could do her portrait. It was such a memorable experience, meeting people in these pristine valleys and being a part of their life for a few moments.

I have used a mix of graphite and charcoal pencils along with white pastel pencil to complete this portrait. The charcoal pencil by "General" is of great help to achieve the darkest tonal values in the drawing.

"The Smile"

A Charcoal Portrait drawing on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 5” X 7”

Canson Mi Teintes paper works great for portrait drawing. This paper has a rough textured surface on one side and a smooth one on the other. I personally prefer to use the smooth surface for both my “Portrait” and “Landscape” works. 

I have been posting my regular day today works on INSTAGRAM and you can browse through my feed to know what I am doing these days. My blogging has taken a backseat but I wish to revive it soon by posting regularly and sharing my thoughts and techniques on art.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and supporting me in my art journey.

Nikola Tesla - Charcoal portrait on toned paper

"Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born." Nikola Tesla

Today's charcoal portrait drawing is a tribute to Nikola Tesla, who was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system.

Albert Einstein was once asked how it felt to be the smartest man alive. Einstein's reply was " I don't know, you'll have to ask Nikola Tesla."

I have used Strathmore toned tan paper and a miscellaneous collection of pencils to create this portrait study. Drawing and sketching is always a welcome change. I have busy with my water color studies for last few months as can be seen from my INSTAGRAM page.

Nikola Tesla

Charcoal and white pastel drawing on Strathmore toned paper

Size 6" X 8"

Strathmore toned paper is a great paper to create portrait drawings using just two different pencils, a charcoal and a white pastel pencil. Few other tools that I commonly use are blending tool, eraser, charcoal powder etc.

I have not blogged much for the last many months and it feels good to be back at it again. My plan is to be a little more consistent from now on. I am also planning a few workshops in the next coming months and I shall be writing more about it in my "ART WORKSHOP" page.

Thank you for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks.  

Portrait study

"Drawing keeps the eye fresh, the mind alive and the intuition nimble." Timothy Nero

In 2017, I did not work a lot on my portraits and one of my resolutions this year was to devote time to create a few of them. When I initially got into portrait drawings, it was mostly charcoal on white paper. It’s only a few years back that I discovered the beauty of working on toned paper. The different toned papers that I have experimented with in the last couple of years are

• Handmade textured paper
• Canson Mi Teintes paper
• Fabriano Elle Erre
• Strathmore toned paper

Apart from the ones mentioned above, every once in a while I try out a portrait study on any ordinary textured paper too like the one below. I created the portrait study below on an ordinary grey textured paper that I came across in a stationery shop. It is definitely not as good as Strathmore or Canson Mi Teintes paper, but for the price that I paid for this paper ( Rs 20/- ) it is value for money.

After creating the portrait and capturing the emotions, I decided to darken the background using charcoal powder. The charcoal powder that I normally use in my charcoal drawings is a local make and pretty good. It is easily available in stationery stores. To know more about the charcoal tools that I use for my drawings CLICK HERE.

In Silence

Portrait study on grey toned paper

Size 6" X 8"

When I was in Sikkim during my last holidays, I stayed in a homestay high up in the mountains at Hee Bermiok in West Sikkim. While I was there I got to interact with the local people and I photographed some of them with their permission. I am now using these photographs as a reference to create a few portrait drawings in the series "FACES OF INDIA". Keep browsing to see some of them soon.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Presently I am busy with my art work and other commitments, but will soon start my "Art Workshops"in different mediums. You can also know about them through my INSTAGRAM account.

At Dalhousie - Charcoal landscape on toned paper

"To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles." Mary Davis

Today's charcoal and white pastel drawing on Canson MT paper is inspired by a scene from Dalhousie, a beautiful hill station in Himachal Pradesh. This road was leading us to our hotel and the entire pathway was lined up by tall coniferous trees and variety of other miscellaneous dense growth on either sides. 

Being a resident of a crowded city like Mumbai, I never get to witness such a sight and hence enjoy every moment of it while I am out there. Nature has so much to offer us and the least we can do is to take care of the environment so as to preserve it for posterity. Drawing and painting places that I have visited in the past gives me immense pleasure. It is my way of sharing the beauty and magic of nature with the rest of the people who have either been there or yet to visit.    

Pathway in the woods

Charcoal and white pastel pencil drawing on Canson MT paper

Size 5" X 7"

This is first of my landscape forest paintings on toned paper. I am quite happy with the outcome and may go on to create some more in this series. Today I removed my soft pastel collection and sat cleaning and organizing them so that I can restart some colored works soon. I love charcoal medium too but working with the same medium for too long can lead to saturation and then a little change refreshes the mind. So keep looking for some new works which I shall be posting soon.

Thank you all for the support that you have provided me. My blog has now crossed 78,000 pageviews and it would not have been possible without the support of the viewers. Thank you all for the same. If you like my works and techniques do visit my INSTAGRAM page to view all my works together in Gallery format.

At Matheran - A Charcoal drawing

“The environment is everything that is not me.” Albert Einstein

When we are out in the wild in the proximity of nature, we come across scenes which capture our attention instantly. The painting actually begins in the mind, the moment we set our eyes on a beautiful scenic landscape.The forest pathway as below was a little away from our Homestay in Matheran and being early morning the sun rays found its way through the dense foliage to create a beautiful contrast of light and shadow on the forest floor.

It is interesting to create a dense forest scene using any medium. With charcoal medium it is mostly about getting the values right. I used kneaded eraser and Staedtler eraser to create the highlights on the pathway and at other places where ever required. Creating thin branches come easy using using any sharp charcoal pencil.

At Matheran

A Charcoal drawing on Favini paper

Size 6"X 7"

I have been working with charcoal medium for very long and I am a little saturated. It is not that I do not love this medium but at times we all need a change. So I am shifting to water colour medium to start with. Will be doing some seascapes and landscapes. No matter what medium, I personally feel that every medium gives me same amount of joy. It is this journey of art which defines me and I am loving every moment of it.

The year 2017 has almost come to an end and I shall be posting soon about some "New year  resolutions" that I have in mind for 2018.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks. 

Drawing a forest scene in charcoal medium

"Art is a line around your thoughts." Gustav Klimt

We were at Karnala Bird Sanctuary when I came across this scene, a pathway leading deeper into the woods. The sun rays  lit up the trees and the foliage in the distance. The composition looked good to me and I decided to capture it on a paper using my interpretation.

I have used willow charcoal and charcoal powder to blend in the background and later used Camlin and other charcoal pencils to create a few details in the mid-ground. Creating a charcoal work is a  great way of doing value study which helps me a lot in creating a coloured painting later. As many other artists say, I too have strongly started believing in the fact that "Value is more important than colour."

Walk in the woods

A charcoal drawing on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 6"X 8"

Half way through the painting, I suddenly remembered to click a photograph of the drawing while it was still in progress. So the image below shows the initial block in stage where in I have simplified the large shapes and created the basic foundation. I have used kneaded eraser to lift out the charcoal from the paper. 

Initial stage of the charcoal drawing

Using willow charcoal, Camlin charcoal pencil and kneaded eraser

 "Fog at the distance" and "Monsoon at Malshej Ghats" are my two other paintings which I have recently created on Canson Mi Teintes paper. This paper grips the charcoal powder pretty well on its sanded surface. I use the smoother side of the paper for my drawings. 

On the 22nd of December I was invited to judge one of the Fine art competitions at MOOD INDIGO Festival, hosted by IIT, Bombay. The event was titled "MONOSTROKES"  and the participants had to create a sketch using the different grades of graphite and charcoal pencils provided to them. 

MOOD INDIGO is the annual cultural festival of Mumbai and the largest in Asia. It attracts a whopping crowd of 1,39,000 students from more than 1700 colleges nationwide. It was an honor to judge this event and a great experience too. I am looking forward to attending more of such events in future too. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks.

The Fence - A charcoal drawing

“As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight.” James McNeil Whistler

I am blogging today after a long number of days. Last week was busy as I was preparing for my "Charcoal drawing Workshop" which happened on the 17th of December at Art Station, Four Bunglows. I had in all nine participants in different age groups who were keen on knowing the basic techniques that I use to create my charcoal drawings.

On the 13th and 16th, I was invited to judge three different events in the "Fine Art" category, by Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. These competitions ie "La La Land", "Wat-A-Waffle" and "Artathalon" were part of their annual "VAAYU FESTIVAL". Each competition was unique in its own way and it was a great experience to be a part of this event. The student committee who organised these events put in lot of efforts since last many months and I appreciated their efforts in making these events a success.

Today I am posting a charcoal drawing of a landscape which I completed last week using willow charcoal and my other basic charcoal drawing tools. It is a beautiful morning scene that I came across during my early morning walk, while we were at Coorg, also popularly known as Madikeri. It is a small hill station in Karnataka. The fence with the barbed wire running along the border had a great appeal and hence I wanted to keep that as my main focus in this drawing.

The Fence

Charcoal drawing on Cartridge paper

Size 6” X 8”

I have been working with charcoal medium for a long time now and getting very tempted to get back to my "Soft Pastels". Soft pastel being a dry medium is quite like charcoal medium and I have to more or less use similar technique of creating marks. I love pastels for its vibrant colours and if you are into this medium do browse through the works of EDGAR DEGAS, ( 1834 - 1917 ) a French artist who used pastels in many of his artworks.

Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my works.

From photograph to charcoal drawing

"While drawing, I discover what I really want to say."Dario Fo

As an artist I am always looking for meaningful quotes as they speak my thoughts and keep me inspired. The above quote holds true, I guess for most of us. It is through our art that we slowly discover what we are trying to convey to the viewers. 

Malshej Ghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range in the Thane-Pune district of Maharashtra, India.The site is nestled in the lofty rugged hills of the Western Ghats. The road journey to this place will take you through winding roads, lush greenery on either sides, thick dense fog and countless number of waterfalls touching the highway. 

We visited this place in the monsoon season this year and I found some perfect subjects that I was looking to paint.. My today's post is a charcoal drawing of one such scene from Malshej Ghats wherein the majestic mountain slopes can be seen fading off in the distance. This drawing was not planned but while browsing through my stationery I came across a white sheet of Canson Mi Teintes which initiated the idea of experimenting with this paper out for my charcoal drawing?. 

I love to experiment with new papers all the time. I have created a post regarding the "Papers I use for my charcoal drawings". After using Canson Mi Teintes, I am quite convinced that it will be an added paper in my list for charcoal drawings. It has this beautiful sanded smooth surface ( which I also use for my pastel drawings ) which takes on the charcoal pretty well.

Sometimes it takes just one drawing to come to a conclusion and there are times when you want to check a paper/paint again and again and you are not really sure if it is going to work for you. 

Monsoon at Malshej Ghats

Charcoal drawing on Canson MT paper.

Size 5.5" X 7"

Initial stage of charcoal drawing

The above image shows the initial stages of the charcoal drawing wherein I have "Blocked In" the different elements in the scene, namely the sky, the mountains slopes etc using charcoal powder and my other blending tools.  The distant mountain slopes are kept light and without any details to create atmospheric depth.

In the subsequent layers I use the pencils and the kneaded eraser to create the highlights and shadows

The photograph from Malshej Ghats

which inspired me to create the charcoal

drawing such as above.

While on location, I try and take a few different photographs with different compositions and later after a little editing I use the image that looks good to to be converted into a painting. I also do a few quick "Thumbnail sketches" using my charcoal pencil and sketch book to roughly block in the value scale in the scene. It always helps. 

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

Portrait drawing on Strathmore toned paper

"The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create the reality of the same intensity."
Alberto Giacometti

Strathmore 400 series Toned Gray paper is working for me. I am enjoying doing portraits on them. It is a 118 gsm, acid free paper, and is excellent for creating white highlights and dark shadows using graphite and charcoal. So far I have been using this paper for my charcoal and white pastel drawings. However I do plan using graphite pencil for creating my next portrait.

Today I am posting a "Portrait drawing" of a young and beautiful girl, with the traditional white bangles on her hand. She is waiting for the celebrations to begin, all dressed up and ready.

Looking pretty

A charcoal and white pastel drawing

Size 5.5" X 7"

I love doing both "Portraits" and "Landscapes". I do not want to give up on any one of them. It gets very difficult at times to keep pace with both these subjects, but my passion for each of them helps me keep the balance. 

Thanks for visiting my blog and if you wish to purchase any of my works, you can mail me at manjupanchal5@gmail.com and I shall get back to you as soon as possible.

Charcoal Drawing Sketch book

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Vincent Van Gogh

Posting two of my recent charcoal drawings in my "Charcoal sketch book" using charcoal pencil, willow charcoal and kneaded eraser. This particular sketch book has a history. I created it in Sept 2015, when I was travelling. At that moment I was looking for a book with butter paper in between for protecting my study works from smudging. When I did not find one, I went on to create one myself. CLICK HERE to read more about this book.

 By creating these small value studies, I get to simplify the landscape that I am working on. Now that my preliminary drawing is done and I am happy with the design, composition and placement of values, I can go ahead and recreate these paintings in a larger format in any medium that I desire.

A seashore at Langkawi

Size 4"X 5"

A scene from West Sikkim

Size 4" X 5"

Painting is fun but as mentioned in the quote as above by Vincent Van Gogh, the pleasure of getting back to simple drawings is something cannot be described in words. Another beautiful quote which speaks of significance of drawing is "Drawing is the bones of art. You have to be able to walk before you can run."Dion Archibald

Check out my "ART WORKSHOP" page to know about some of my upcoming workshops in this month and October.

Thanks you all for browsing through my artworks.

Making small changes in an "Old Portrait Artwork"

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do." Leonardo Da Vinci

While browsing through some of my old artworks, I came across the portrait of a young woman which I had created last year on Canson Mi Teintes paper. It was meant to be a simple study work. I looked at it for a few minutes, analyzing and evaluating it and then got tempted to make a few changes.This happens all the time. You begin to see little faults in older works.

Posted below is the "Portrait" after a little touch up with General white pastel pencil and Camel charcoal pencil.

Portrait study work

Charcoal and white pastel drawing on Canson MT paper

Size 5" X 7"

I am very fond of Canson MT paper and use it a lot for my soft pastel paintings and portrait artworks. Of late I have started using Strathmore toned paper too. The Strathmore paper has comparatively a smooth surface, nevertheless with a change of pencil I get the effect that I desire.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks.

Charcoal and Graphite Portrait drawing of a boy

"I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living."
Robert Henri

Some months back I had purchased Canson Bristol paper from "Art Lounge" with an intention of trying it out for my graphite and charcoal artworks. It is an extra white paper with a very smooth surface. I used it initially to do my "Eye studies" and later started a portrait of a young boy which for various reasons never got completed. Therefore I decided to put in a few hours on it and finally completed it. In this particular drawing I have used a combination of both graphite and charcoal medium.

In conclusion, I love the Canson Bristol paper for its extra white colour. However since I have not worked much on a very smooth surface, I am feeling a bit uneasy at this stage. In fact all the papers that I have used in the past have a textured surface and so I have got very comfortable using them. But at the same time, I do not want to give up on this paper and may try one or two more portraits to make a final conclusion ie to keep it as a preferred choice for future or to let it go.

CLICK HERE to know about the papers that I use for my charcoal drawings.

Young Boy

Charcoal drawing on Canson Bristol paper

Size 5" X 7"

Posted below is the image of the Bristol paper by Canson

I enjoy doing both landscapes and portraits. However landscapes take much lesser time as compared to doing portraits. My portrait drawing happens in stages. I never complete it at one go. I take my time and as and when I am in the right frame of mind, I sit at it and little by little I add the layers. It is interesting to see the portrait develop and when it finally completes it seems like a big achievement. 

 If you wish to purchase any of my artworks, you can browse through them on my INSTAGRAM page. I shall communicate with you regarding the availability of the painting, the shipping procedure and other details.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Portrait drawing on Canson Mi Teintes paper

"How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. What we do this hour and that hour, is what we are doing." Annie Dillard. ( Courtesy: Skinny Artist )

I love to start my day with a good "Quotation." It has now become second nature to me. The above quote throws light on a very important aspect of our life. Living life everyday, and taking small decisions which go a long way to keep you happy and satisfied. I try to paint and draw on a daily basis and the days I am really busy, I take to my sketch book, creating some small study work in it. It keeps my art passion alive.

Today I am posting a "Portrait drawing" which I have created inspired by a lively old woman, I met up in the mountain slopes at Hee Bermiok in West Sikkim. We were climbing up the hills in order to get a clear view of Kanchenjunga Mountain peak, when we were greeted by her and her granddaughter.

She was out in the front yard of her home, relaxing. Looking happy and exuberant, she readily posed for me and when I expressed my desire to create her drawing in future, she immediately went and changed into her traditional attire ( Including the jewelry ). That gave me the opportunity to click more of her photographs from different angles and I am waiting to try them all.

In the drawing as below, she is facing the sun and to avoid the glaring sun rays she squint her eyes. I loved this composition, hence this is the first of her portraits that I have done to start with. Getting to know a person before doing the portrait helps in capturing the inner soul of the person in the drawing. I have tried to do just that.

Facing the morning light

Charcoal and white pastel pencil drawing on Canson MT paper

Size 5" X 7"

Next I am working on few more portraits, so keep browsing and if you are interested in attending any of my art workshops please drop me a mail and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Charcoal Demo Works created during "Art Workshop"

"Life is pretty simple. You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else." Leonardo Da Vinci

In today's post I am sharing a few small charcoal "Demo works" that I created during my recent "Charcoal drawing workshop" that I conducted for two private students.

All of them are sized 5" X 7" and have been created on cartridge sheet, Fabriano Academia and Canson paper. I spend roughly around fifteen minutes or so to create these small works. For a bigger charcoal drawing I use a whole lot of different drawing tools, however for these small works I simply use a Camlin charcoal pencil and willow charcoal.

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A beach scene from Maldives

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A scene at Zero point, Sikkim

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A scene from Langkawi

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A seashore at Phuket

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A tree from Dubare forest, Coorg

For every workshop that I conduct, I try and do a different demonstration, step by step, which helps the participants to understand the technique I follow in order to create a simple Charcoal drawing. 

I have used my personal photographs of places that I have visited in the past, to create the above drawings. I may refer to these study works to create a few "Water colour paintings" in future. 

Apart from charcoal drawings I am into other mediums as well and to browse through my other artworks you can follow me on INSTAGRAM. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Portrait drawing on toned paper

"And the beauty of a woman, with passing years only grows!." Audrey Hepburn

Today I am posting my recently done "Charcoal portrait drawing" of a beautiful woman whom I met in Sikkim. I loved everything about her, her wrinkled face, her pretty smile, her scarf on the head which curled up at the top letting a few braided strings fall below.

She is seventy five and stays high up in the mountains somewhere in Hee Bermiok in West Sikkim. She had come to meet the owners of the homestay where we were staying, with an intention of selling some pretty hand made purses to the tourists. I purchased a few of them.

She moves around the hills climbing the difficult terrain with such ease and is so cheerful and full of life. I listened to her conversation, not understanding much but enjoyed interacting with her. I took her photograph with her consent and expressed my desire to do her portrait some day. She was all smile to hear that.

I am glad that I finally managed to get started with her portrait. Her portrait will always remind me of her strength, endurance and zest for life. I feel fortunate to have met her. Painting is like etching these memories on paper.

Wrinkled with age

Charcoal drawing on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 5" X 7"

Canson Mi Teintes paper comes in many different shades ( 50 colours ) and I use them for my soft pastel paintings too. However when it comes to using them for my charcoal and white pastel drawings I mainly use the dark gray sheet.

Canson Mi teintes ( Different shades )

If you are interested in attending any of my workshops, visit the ART WORKSHOP page to know the schedule.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Rearranging my Charcoal drawing tools in a new box

"Without good drawing, the foundation of a painting will collapse." Ken Danby

As mentioned in my last post I am getting back into my "Portrait drawing". So I decided to rearrange and organise all my "Charcoal drawing tools" in a new cardboard box ( This sturdy little box with one inch height came with ipad keyboard ).

Charcoal tools in a new box

This new box easily accommodates my basic drawing tools that I use on a regular basis. I keep the willow charcoal in a tissue paper as it smudges a lot and makes the whole area messy.

Prior to using the new box, my pencils and few other tools were in a very old stationery box which I have been using since probably 2000. The image of the same can be found below. When I got started with charcoal I used just about three to four tools namely Ambassador charcoal pencil, blending tools, charcoal powder and an eraser. So a small box was a pretty convenient option.

Old charcoal tool box

To view the images of all the different tools that I use in my present day drawings CLICK HERE.

I have also posted about the "Different papers" that I use for my charcoal drawings.

Thank you for browsing through my blog and if you are a person who is passionately into art, I hope that my blog and the information that I share is of help to you. 

Charcoal drawing and sketching workshop on 26th and 27th August, 2017

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live for ever." Gandhi

I take art workshops from time to time. Through my art workshop I get to meet people from different walks of life. People who are looking forward to learn the basics of art and who need a little motivation to get started in this direction.

My today's post is a brief introduction about my upcoming "Charcoal and drawing and sketching workshop" on the 26th and 27th of this month ie August, 2017.

During the workshop I shall be introducing the participants to the different papers and the charcoal tools that I use for my drawings. CLICK HERE to view the images of the different tools as I have posted an article about the same some time back. I provide all the materials so that the participants can judge for themselves and then later buy their preferred choice of materials.

Each participant gets a small sketch book with 4"X 5"cartridge sheets.

Using the different tools like pencils, willow charcoal etc they go on to create small works.

This way they get accustomed to using the tools.

For the upcoming workshop I will be demonstrating landscapes, floral and still life works.

Such as the images below

Charcoal drawing of landscape with mountains

Charcoal drawing of Foggy landscape

The participants will be creating one charcoal drawing sized 6"X 8" on the first day and two different works on the second day. During the course of the drawing sessions the following topics too shall be covered.

• Drawing from a photograph as a reference
• Design and composition
• Significance of tonal values
• Framing of a charcoal painting
• Tips and techniques for better drawings
• Preservation and care ( protection against moisture, sun etc )

When I do the demo's of certain charcoal drawings I share "My technique" which I have developed over a period of time after having created hundreds of drawings. Hence I encourage the participants to use the basic techniques but experiment and explore with new tools and papers which will in turn help them to develop their own style in the long run.

The Charcoal drawing workshop will be for a small group of four to five participants and to register for the same you can call me at 9967169025 ( Mumbai ) or drop me a mail at manjupanchal5@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Charcoal drawing on Strathmore gray toned paper

"You never outgrow drawing. It's so fundamental to everything." Debra Groessner

No matter what medium I am into, getting back into drawing and sketching refreshes my creative spirit. As mentioned in the quote above, drawing is fundamental to painting any subject. We paint as we draw. 

The charcoal drawing below is of a group of rocks and pebbles at the seashore. Last time when I handled the same subject I used a cartridge paper. This time, however I decided to use the Strathmore gray toned paper in which the gray colour of the paper acts as the mid tone value and I had to add the darker and lighter values to complete the painting.

Pebbles

Charcoal drawing on Strathmore gray toned paper

Size 4.5" X 5.5"

Posted below is the initial stage of the painting where I have created the outline of the rocks using a graphite pencil and added darker values at certain places.

Initial step

Drawing of pebbles

This is a small charcoal drawing and hence I have used only a charcoal pencil and a white pastel pencil. CLICK HERE to view all the different charcoal tools that I use in order to create a bigger charcoal work. 

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM and if you love my works and they inspire you, share them with your friends.

Thank you for visiting my blog and browsing through my works 🙏

Charcoal drawing of Pebbles

"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

Michelangelo

Many artists believe that value is more important than colour to the design and success of a painting. I have started believing in this theory too. Hence creating a grey scale version of a painting helps me a lot to understand the subject even before I have started the painting process. The advantages of knowing the right values are

• Value helps in creating a focal point within a painting or a drawing
• The human eye is immediately drawn to a light element against a dark element. This creates the focal point of interest.
• Gradations of value help in creating the illusion of depth.
• The light and contrast help to define the form of the subject matter.

"Rocks and pebbles" have always fascinated me as a subject for painting. I created my first "Rocks and pebbles" painting in water colour medium and posted it recently. I enjoyed doing that small little study and decided to try out this subject using charcoal medium too. 

Therefore I hunted out another photograph taken at a beach and went ahead creating the charcoal drawing as given below. This is the fun part of the art journey. It is so full of surprises. You discover new interests, fall in love once again with an old medium and it motivates you further in life.

Pebbles

Charcoal drawing on cartridge sheet

Size 5.5" X 6.5"

Taking a break with a little charcoal artwork has helped me. I intend to continue with my water colour explorations but as and when possible I will try and do a little of my "Charcoals and Pastels" too. I am also into "ART WORKSHOPS" and to know more details regarding the same you can visit my page. Art workshops are fun as it helps me to get connected with art enthusiasts in all age groups. 

Thank you very much for visiting my blog and keep browsing. Do visit my INSTAGRAM page to see my works in charcoals, soft pastels and other mediums.