[Freddio]

Hey,
Ive been experimenting in charcoal lately.

heres some I quickly whipped up..
now I have a major problem, how come my charcoal stuff looks nothing like Pipas? I can't produce any mid tones. I have no tonal range at all.
I am using the same paper and charcoal pencils as pipa, yet his has a totally different quality. And when I try to smudge the charcoal it just doesnt happen for me.. hrrm

how do I achieve a smooth tonal quality?

i'm using Pierre noire Conte 3b charcoal pencils
and a fairly corse (spelling) paper. It is the same paper that pipa uses I forget what its called.



and Pipas

[beans]

I've never worked with charcoal pencils, but when I was using compressed charcoal sticks I got a nice smooth texture by blending with a paper towel or some toilet paper. That also helped me lighten up areas because it removes some of the charcoal. I like to work into the paper by laying down some charcoal and then blending a bit, and if it's too dark I'll take a kneaded eraser and take some off, then blend some more and add more charcoal as needed. Your's looks nice, even rough like that. =)

[egerie]

Compressed charcoal bars are the darkest and easyest to smear on your paper but it's harder to erase. Natural charcoal sticks is lighter, smears with ease and is easyer to erase.
Like beans mentionned, you can use various things to smear your charcoal. I prefer to use my hands or when my fingertips are overused (paper can get abrasive ), a tissue is ok.
You can use soft charcoal erasers (a blue kind of paste that you can bend and separate, twist etc), standard Staedtler erasers for black Manners but bread is what works best

Don't be afraid to get dirty to learn
As for Pipas, I think he's using crayons for touchups and details.

Cheers

[Lunatique]

The middle tone you see in that guy's work is all done by blending with a tissue or fingers.

That's how I do it anyways.

Here's one of mine. The middle tone on the face is all done with blending. I actually used graphite too, to tighten up some details.

[jasonN]

Wow, that pipas guy is good!
And Luna, that drawing is awesome!
I'm really bad at charcoal and the very few experiences I've had with it were very frustrating indeed.
Anyway, just wanted to reply to say good luck with your charcoal work, these samples are inspiring me!

[turnip]

yups, he gots those midtones by smearing

you can use your fingers, tissues, cloth or those smearing pens (i'm not sure what they're called, but basically a stick made of paper products with a sharp tip)
I find fingers have the greatest control (I have very thin fingers) in pressure and in the area to smear. And getting messy is the best part

[beans]

I really don't like to use my finger directly...maybe I have extra oily fingers, but it tends to make my pic look dirty. For better control with my tissue, I just wrap a little bit around my finger so I have the control of using my finger without the oil. =D Just have to watch out for rubbing through the paper...

Oh, I think those paper-stick things are called tortillions. They work well for getting in really tight places. =)

[ February 07, 2002: Message edited by: beans ]

[c]

freddio charcoal is my favorite medium and my suggestion would working loosely and dare i say, messily before you try to go into rendering perfection.

charcoal can be messy and hard to control, but at the same time it can be extremely liberating.

i like working on plain, cheap bond paper. with a nice long, soft charcoal pencil (always with a pencil extender) and a kneaded eraser.

use compressed charcoal if you want to work start off with a midtone, it's not terribly important but can be helpful. rub it on the paper and wipe it with a papertowel or your hand. vine charcoal is cool too.

i'm just saying there is a lot of other things you can do before you attempt to follow the path of the human copy machine, i mean, pipa.

oh, and see how far you can go without blending.

[ February 08, 2002: Message edited by: c ]

[Jason Manley]

the ABSOLUTE best blending tool for use on large charcole drawings is a make up powder puff...a good one.

fingers are not good to use for blending...the oil will leave prints in your work later on.

blending stumpfs work well for small areas but not as well for larger areas.

shammies work well for erasing and for smearing...its both an eraser of darks and softening tool for lights...brings most everything to middle gray....


soft cotton cloth works well for blending but does not hold charcole as well as the powder puff...however it does have its uses.

kneaded eraser to lift out larger dabs of light....hard rubber eraser for carving into the lightest lights (use a blade to keep a sharp edge on it)

vine charcole is nice to start with ...it moves around easily unlike the black more waxy conte...

conte is good for defining things as it wont lift off when you wipe across it with the puff...it doesnt wipe off as easily anyhow

nupastel black is the darkest dark PERIOD..holy crap that stuff is black.

there is another brand of charcole that is very soft and powdery...it comes in packs and is about a centimeter wide and two inches long...great for laying down and then smearing and softening with the puff or rag.

good luck...

ps..pencils for detail work...keep all your stuff sharpened with a nice long edge leading up to the point...like a cone on the end...will allow you to lay charcole down as well as twist to hit on the point.

jason manley