Step by Step - The Exposed roots of a tree, a Charcoal sketching

During my last visit to Karnala Bird Sanctuary I made it a point to click some beautiful photographs of trees. All kinds of trees. I was particular about the composition and also was interested in the light source and shadows. From my previous experience and having created so many artworks in the last two years, I knew what exactly I was looking for.

The Charcoal sketching as below is with reference to one such tree which had these beautiful
exposed roots spreading out in different angles. The roots that keep the tree grounded.

Once again I have photographed the painting during its various stages of creation. This time
around I made use of my General charcoal pencil and made a few observations about it
as compared to Camel charcoal pencil.

General charcoal pencil is more soft, darker in tone/value and spreads more uniformly on the
paper. From now on I plan to use this pencil on a regular basis to create my charcoal works.

Grounded

Charcoal and white soft pastel sketching on Canson Mi Teintes paper.

Size 5" X  7"

This sketching suddenly reminded me of a soft pastel painting which I did last year

with reference to my COORG photograph. This tree was part of the coffee plantation

near our homestay.

Soft pastel painting from past.

Step by Step - Charcoal sketching of a tree my way

I had this image of a tree trunk on my ipad since very long and I finally decided to create a charcoal sketching of the same on FABRIANO ACADEMIA paper. It is an acid free paper and I already mentioned in my last post that I use it for both charcoal and pencil medium. It has an amazing texture and it adds to the character of the subject especially if I am creating a tree.

Also I made a deliberate attempt to remember photographing the images as my work progressed.

1.     The size of the paper is 5.5" X 7". I did a very rough outline of the tree trunk in the first 

        stage as shown below using a HB pencil.

2. Next I used my charcoal tools and pencils to add the tonal values and the darkest tones to 

    establish depth. I also blended the strokes at places. The background was kept hazy and I 

    used a soft cloth to cover the distance. The foreground was similarly created by using

    cloth and blending tools.

3. At this stage I used more of my charcoal pencils namely Camel charcoal pencil and

    General charcoal pencil to create the details like small outgrowths, barks and other 

    twisted shapes, bark strokes etc. I also added few strokes in foreground to create grassy 

    effect. The source of light is from the right direction so I used eraser and kneaded putty 

    to create the highlights.

4. In the final stages I keep the sketch at a distance and evaluate. I keep it aside for a day 

    to look back at it the next day with FRESH MIND and EYES so I can redo the fine 

    touch up ie adding few details, the dark and light values, creating wild grassy growth 

    in foreground etc. At some point then I decide to call it an end as overworking, I have

   realised can cause more harm than good.

The Knotted tree trunk

Charcoal sketching on Fabriano Academia paper

Size 5.5" X 7" 

I have a big collection of charcoal pencils of different brands which I picked up from different 

in an attempt to try it out for its darkness and quality. I have not had the time to try

all of them but among the ones that I have given a try, I find Camel , Primo and

pretty satisfying for my work. Very soon I will try and photograph

the other tools as well and write a post about it.