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.  

Working on an unfinished portrait drawing

"I invent nothing. I rediscover." Auguste Rodin

Hand made paper is not my my preferred choice of toned paper for portrait drawing. The two papers that I would love to use today are "Canson Mi Teintes" and "Strathmore toned paper". However the portrait drawing that I am posting today is a work that I started quite some time back on hand made paper and for some reason it was left a little incomplete. Therefore I spent some time working on it and finally completed it.

I do not have much of this hand made paper ( 300gsm ) left with me and after working with Strathmore and Canson paper I realised that the texture and quality of the paper matters a lot when it comes to drawing and sketching. I have also ordered a new Strathmore book of Toned warm tan papers and would be using one of the sheets soon.

A portrait study
Charcoal and white pastel pencil drawing on hand made paper
Size 5"X 7"

During my earlier years of drawing I exclusively worked with charcoal on white paper. Its much later that I discovered the beauty of working on toned paper. So these days I try out both the options ie charcoal on white paper as well as toned paper. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and to browse through my works in Gallery format you can visit my INSTAGRAM page.

A Figurative Charcoal drawing from the past

"As a child I drew like Raphael but it has taken a lifetime for me to draw like a child." 
Pablo Picasso

I have been organising my paintings lately and while doing so came across some of my old artworks created in charcoal medium. When I first began using this medium, I had limited tools, namely charcoal powder and a charcoal pencil named AMBASSADOR. Using these two mark making tools and a set of beautiful tortillons I went on to create many charcoal artworks.

Today I am posting one of the old works, which needed little touch up. It is a charcoal drawing inspired by the loving relationship between father and son. It is the time spent with the children that creates beautiful memories.

Moment of Joy

Charcoal drawing on paper

Size 8" X 10"

I have titled the above painting as "Moment of Joy" because this image conveys a feeling which probably we have all gone through while we were growing up. It evokes our childhood memories and we try to recollect what it was like to be out with parents and the precious moments that we spent with them. Time moves ahead and we are left with these beautiful memories.

I have been juggling between the charcoal and the soft pastel medium. Both are dry mediums and being self taught, I have experimented and explored both and come up with my own way of handling it. As we continuously work with a medium, we develop a mark making technique that keeps evolving with time. The way I create each stroke be it in charcoal or pastel, now defines my works. 

Portrait and figurative works have always appealed to me and I am glad that I am finally making a serious attempt at restarting it. So my paintings now will be inspired by "People and Places". I will continue my landscape painting as well.

Thanks for browsing through my works.

Portrait sketching - A study work

Canson Mi Teintes is available in many different shades and it works beautifully with charcoal

and pastel medium. I have used the dark grey paper for portrait shading earlier. Many artists

use black, beige and other toned papers as well. I get inspired by looking at all the beautiful

work done by other artists and I love to experiment with new papers, mediums, stationery etc. 

The whole idea is to grow as an artist and to learn something new and better everyday.

Using a beige coloured paper I created a simple portrait, ie face at an angle. Since the paper 

colour is new to me I have not overworked on the portrait. Just bare minimum strokes to get the anatomy of the face right. Sketching a face at an angle is a challenge and I plan to do a few more sketches of these kind. 

The colour of the paper acts as the midtone and the highlights are created using

General and Cretacolour white pastel pencil. The darker shades are obtained by Camlin and 

General charcoal pencil.

Portrait study work

Charcoal and pastel work on Canson paper

Canson Mi Teintes papers

in different colours

A beautiful quotation 

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together" Vincent Van Gogh