The charcoal drawing tools used by me for my charcoal art

Charcoal sketching tools

I have been wanting to this post since long as it is a common question asked to me by all those who love charcoal art. The participants who attend my art workshop too have requested me to post this information on the blog.

Being a self taught artist I have experimented with a whole lot of different pencils and blending tools in the past. However over a period of years I have zeroed in on a handful of them and they have been in my charcoal tool box since then. There are a few paper stumps which are almost sixteen years old and I dread misplacing them. The older they get the better they are at blending. 

Basically the charcoal kit consists of the pencils, blending tools and the erasers and a fixative.

The paper stumps ( Old collection, almost fifteen years old )

Rolled up paper

The blending tools  or Tortillons ( New ones as available in the market )

Old soft cloth for blending

Tissue paper  also can be used as an alternative, to blend the 
charcoal on paper ( I normally use only the cloth )

Camlin charcoal pencil
I almost use it for all my charcoal drawings and sketchings

Conte a Paris charcoal pencil

General charcoal pencil

A normal eraser ( Staedtler )

Kneaded eraser ( Faber Castell or Cretacolour )

Very helpful to create the highlights and can be moulded into any shape

Willow charcoal ( Chinese brand )
I have Daler Rowney willow charcoal too but I find this
particular one very soft and it covers the paper
very uniformly as a base value.

Charcoal powder
I use if for creating the darkest values in my charcoal sketching.

Cretacolour Chunky Charcoal
( Sparingly used )

General's Compressed charcoal sticks

This has been with me since last year and only very recently

I have started using it. I find it pretty good.

Masking Tape
Masking tape is required to fix the paper
on to some hard surface or an acid free board
before beginning the drawing begins

Blade Cutter
I normally a blade to sharpen the pencils instead of using a sharpener
 as the tips break off easily. It leads to a lot of frustation
especially if the pencil is very expensive.

Winsor and Newton Fixative

There are lot of different brands of fixative's in the market

but somehow I have always liked the one as above.

Apart from all the tools mentioned above, I also keep sand paper handy as it helps me to sharpen the pencil tips when I need to do the details. And I also forgot to mention a simple HB pencil ( Any brand ) which is required in the beginning to do the initial drawing on the paper.

I have also written a post about the PAPERS that I use for my charcoal works and you can CLICK HERE to browse through it. I hope this post is helpful to all those who are into charcoal drawing and sketching. 

If you are into charcoal art work and if you use any tool other than what I have mentioned above, then please do write and share with me. It will be a pleasure to be informed.

Thanks a lot for browsing through my works.

Soft pastel demo work on Strathmore paper

A small soft pastel demonstration done on Strathmore pastel paper during one of my recent soft pastel workshops. There is a slight fold/crumple in the paper as can be seen from the image as below. The crumpling of the paper was caused due to the wet brush which I used on the first layer of pastels in order to get an underpainting of basic colours. 

Later I went on to add more colours of similar values and a few details in the foreground. Richard McKinley, a Master Pastel Artist from America uses the underpainting technique in most of his works and I like his style a lot.

Added two small figures on the beach, taking a casual relaxed walk. Painting a seashore is a very relaxing experience and I am always looking out for more subjects based on sea. 

Small demo work in soft pastel medium

Paper used - Strathmore

Size 5" X 7"

An image of the Strathmore pastel paper pad .

It has 24 sheets of assorted colours

Image: coutesy GOOGLE.

Quotation by Einstein

"Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought."

Combining Charcoal and acrylic on canvas

Past few days have been busy as I have personal commitments and other work like designing 

NAMEPLATES for the wall. Under these circumstances I feel it convenient to create charcoal works and check out ideas that have been playing on my mind for long.

Tried charcoal sketching on 8" x 10" canvas board referring to a scene at Narkanda in Himachal Pradesh. I have mainly used willow charcoal and Camel pencil in the first image. 

A scene from Narkanda ( Himachal Pradesh )

Charcoal work on canvas

Since this is more of an experimental work, I went one step further and added black acrylic paint in certain areas to add depth. Charcoal is not water soluble which caused a lot of discomfort while adding it on as second layer.  Therefore probably in my next experimental series I shall try putting a thin layer of acrylic coat in the beginning itself.

Charcoal and acrylic work on canvas

After completing the work I sprayed it heavily with fixative in order to avoid glass during framing.

Painting everyday is my resolution every night before I go to sleep. The day to day art that I create to capture the simple scenes of nature that appeal to me, gives me immense pleasure. My art endeavors has also brought me close to more people of "MY KIND" who love anything about art. This interaction with the art community adds to the excitement and fun and life gets a new definition.

That's the reason I always say " I am living my dream by drawing, painting and sketching every day of my life."

My works can be viewed on my FACEBOOK page.