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. 

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.

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.

Charcoal drawing of a tree

"Inspiration does exist but it must find you working." Pablo Picasso

I love painting trees and am fascinated by them as a subject. I came across these beautiful lines on significance of trees and am sharing them with you. ( Courtesy: http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/treelore.htm )

Trees are symbols of physical and spiritual nourishment, transformation and liberation, sustenance, spiritual growth and fertility.The world-tree is described in the Upanishads "a tree eternally existing, its roots aloft, its branches spreading below."

Today I am posting a charcoal drawing of a beautiful tree that I came across on the banks of Kaveri river, at Dubare forest near Coorg. I recently posted another "Tree painting" from the same region.This charcoal drawing was created as a demo during a recent art workshop. It is not always possible to do a complete detailed work during a workshop, hence I spent a little extra time adding on a few marks here and there to get to get the look that I desired.

The Eternal

Charcoal drawing on Cartridge sheet

Size 12"X 16"

For most of my demo works in charcoal medium I use willow charcoal during the initial layering of the shape as it helps in covering  up the basic mid tone value. Later I analyse and evaluate the work and then proceed with charcoal powder and pencil to get the darker tones. To create the highlights I use the kneaded eraser. 

CLICK HERE to know about the charcoal tools that I use for my charcoal drawings. I have also posted about my favorite papers that use for the charcoal medium.

Thanks for browsing through my works and would love to know what papers do you use for your charcoal works? Do leave in your comments.

More Pencil drawings in my sketch book

"A true artist is not the one who is inspired, but one who inspires others." Salvador Dali

If you have been following my posts you will know that some time back I started off small pencil drawings in my sketch book, which has forty cartridge sheets in it. In the last few days I managed to add a few more in the same book. Some of these are demo works that I created for two participants who attended my ART WORKSHOP. ( Pencil/Graphite drawing )

Since these are more of study works, I normally decide on spending not more than twenty minutes on each of them but it never really happens this way. Most of the times I get carried away and I want to do just a little more of detailing here and there and then I realise that I am actually spending more than thirty minutes on some of them. But it is fun. I create these when I am done with all my serious artwork and have a few minutes to myself to experiment and explore some new subject. This is also a great way of doing value studies. 

Pencil drawings in my sketch book

Each sketch is sized 4" X 5.5"

Presently I am working on my Coorg Pastel Landscape which is almost complete. The next step is to photograph it, edit it and then post it. I am also posting my old as well as new works now on

INSTAGRAM. 

If you like my artworks and techniques please do share it with friends. Thanks for stopping by.

Pencil drawings in my sketch book

"Learning never exhausts the mind." Leonardo da Vinci

My sketch book is my prized possession. It is diary of my preliminary study works. Browsing through it occasionally, inspires me a lot. It speaks to me of my experimental endeavors, my art journey, my mistakes, my learning lessons. I have several of them now, each one dedicated to a particular art or a medium.

When I have time in hand and am not into doing any serious work, I take one of my sketch books and get down to create small study works sized 4" X 5.5". Last month I started one exclusively for my pencil drawings. Posted below are some of my latest additions in this sketch book.  

The pencils that I have used for these works are 

• 2B Camlin pencil 
• 10B Camlin pencil
• 8B Cretacolour pencil

Pencil/Graphite drawings and sketchings

of different landscapes sized 4" X 5.5"

In a Sketch book as shown below

Thanks for browsing through my artworks and for any inquiry related to works available for sale

please mail me at manjupanchal@hotmail.com

Graphite pencil drawings in my new sketch book

"It takes 25 years to learn to draw, one hour to learn to paint." 

 Jean-Auguste-Dominique-Ingres

Last month when I was travelling I decided to carry a "Small art stationery travel kit". This kit consisted of  my routine blank sketch book, HB pencil and a 10B pencil along with a kneaded eraser. The plan was to get back to sketching and drawing in graphite medium. 

Did the plan work? Absolutely. In fact I have realised that for any plan to work, we have to make it work. It won't ever happen on its own. At times I have to push myself . Once I get started, the momentum picks up and then I start enjoying the whole experience. I am getting back into graphite medium after a long long time and no regrets. I am loving it.

I started off with a landscape and then went on to do few more interesting subjects using both the Camlin HB and the 10B pencil. The travel kit was small and convenient and and getting back to graphite drawing was a rejuvenating experience. 

Pencil drawing and sketching
in sketch book with 4" X 5.5" cartridge sheets

Tree trunk

Snow capped mountains in the distance

A pear in sunlight

A garlic clove

The sketch book 
with 40 cartridge sheets.

The sketch book is small, lightweight and easy to carry. It has forty cartridge sheets sized 4"X 5.5". After every sketching and drawing, ( Each drawing takes roughly fifteen to twenty minutes ) I make it a point to mention the date and a little remark underneath so that some day in future when I browse through this book it will remind me of my little experiments and stories connected with each work.

By now I have a big collection of these small books and each of them is specifically for a different kind of artwork. Like there is one exclusively for my portrait studies and there is another purely for my water colour works. Therefore as and when I take a break from my "Normal daily painting routine" I turn to one of my sketch books to try out some new idea, some new medium or simply drawing and sketching.

I have been working a lot in charcoal medium lately and some of my "Soft pastel works" have been left unattended. They are half way through and so next thing I am planning is to focus on completing them. My "Two days soft pastel workshop" is coming up this weekend and I am pretty excited about it as I will get to meet new participants. Interacting with others who are as passionate about art as you are is very inspiring. I always look forward to having my workshops.