DRAWING LESSONS by Margaret Oliver
You will want to have art supplies handy but you may not know a good way to start. Some people prefer getting the bare minimum essentials while others may want to know about all that is available, and then experiment with a wide variety of tools and toys before narrowing their focus down to a select few favorites. Regardless of which sort of person you are, I have developed a guide for you….
PAPER SELECTIONS
Get acid-free paper, preferably recycled paper, and get it in white, off white, and different shades of grays and even colored papers….try yellows reds and blues… for example. Get this paper in a variety of surface textures too…the smoother your paper, the less likely the paper will “grab” onto the charcoal dust. I prefer “Pastel Paper” by Canson Mi-Teintes. They have a whole spectrum of colors to choose from, and the “grab” is pretty decent. Also, the bigger the sheet of paper you use to draw on, the more free you can be with the flow of your movements…try not to purchase anything smaller than 11”x9” (26x23centimeters) when you start out, and you will be quite happy you spent the extra cash. I highly recommend starting out drawing on sheets of paper that are at least 16”x20” (40x50cm) in size.
CHARCOAL SELECTIONS
Purchase some soft vine charcoal sticks, as well as some medium sticks, some loose charcoal powder, and some hard charcoal sticks. Don’t be afraid to pick up ‘pencil” shaped charcoal sticks either, as these can be held in holders, and sharpened to fine pointed tips. There are also “charcoal pencils” in various hardesses to choose from as well. I like these for adding detail to my work, and enjoy being able to quickly sharpen them too with simple hand-held metal art sharpeners. I think you’ll like a whole array of charcoal to choose from, and I personally use a full spectrum in my studio. The more types of charcoal with which you become familiar, the more deliberate you can be in your choices when it comes to letting your creativity flow.
DRAWING SURFACES
You can draw resting your paper flat against almost anything. But remember, this is a really messy medium. To avoid making a mess where you will have to say, be doing other things besides draw….I would recommend purchasing an art-board. You can then buy clips for it which will be used to attach your paper, and will allow you to store away your work when you want to use your tables for other activities. Personally, I choose to make my own art-boards by shopping at lumber yards, choosing the flattest and smoothest birch-wood plywood board that is about ¼ - ½ inch thick (1-2 centimeters) and about 2’x3’ (60x90 centimeters) in length and height. This allows you to keep the mess where it belongs.
ERASERS AND ERASING SHIELDS
Whenever you add something to the surface of a piece of paper, there is often an equal attraction to subtract a least something before a drawing is complete. Whether you are actively interested in “correcting mistakes” or interested in “subtraction as art marking” or whatever, you will need to at least have a few erasers to choose from. I like to combine the use of erasers with a “shield” which is simply a little rectangle of metal with some shapes cut out, allowing you to manipulate the exact shape of the “subtraction” you want to apply to your paper with an eraser. It’s a cool little gadget and quite inexpensive. Erasers I prefer to use are kneaded erasers, white “magic rub” erasers, and pencil shaped ‘Peel-off” erasers. I also highly recommend using a “dusting brushe” which will wipe away erasing crumbs from your drawing surface without your having to disturb the drawing surface too much. If you rely just on blowing away erasing crumbs, you may end up hurting the surface of your drawing accidentally…say…with your saliva.
BLENDERS
When you think about drawing with charcoal one thing to keep in mind is that as a powdery medium, it is quite conducive to blending techniques, which provide very smooth areas of blacks and grays, depending on the amount of charcoal being ground into the area of the paper surface. You can blend charcoal marks together using your hands, fingers, thumbs, or indirectly using manufactured blenders such as a piece of cloth (preferably a chamois) or little blending sticks like tortillions or stumps made of rolled paper. NOTE: I know you can buy chamois at art supply stores, but they are dirt cheap if you buy them from auto supply stores. I know…weird, huh? They like to rip off artists, I swear! You can also make your own tortillions by twisting paper into a fine point as well. If you are the kind of person that could make paper dolls or paper airplanes as a child, then you may want to experiment with making your own tortillions. Regardless, it’s not that expensive to buy them.
STORAGE BOX
Not everyone can just leave out their art supplies, they need somewhere to store them. Charcoal, messy as it is, needs to be kept away from other materials as much as possible in order not to contaminate them, such as your drafting pens and pencils, or your paints for example. I highly recommend purchasing a “tackle box” or other such multi-compartment storage box to keep your charcoal, blenders, erasers, shields, and other accessories safe and accessible. I know that a lot of art stores sell “art boxes” but these are just glorified tackle boxes and often cost twice as much. I recommend going to a sporting good store instead.
ONLINE ART SUPPLIERS
If you can’t find an art store nearby, you can always order online. I prefer several sources for art materials, and here is a list:
LESSON 1
Take out your writing journal and write today’s date, and “Drawing Lesson #1: Charcoal” at the top. Now, take out a stick of soft vine charcoal and look at it. What does it remind you of? How does it feel in your hand? Write that down… Next, take out a piece of white drawing paper and draw a series of straight lines first up and down…then across the sheet of paper. Do this free-hand without any rulers or straight edges guiding your hands…Erase every line that is not perfectly straight. The goal is to get 5 perfectly straight lines in each direction on your piece of paper.
If you are dong this lesson correctly, you will have to erase a lot of your lines…as your hand and you eyes learn to coordinate with this new medium. Vine charcoal can be tricky at first….it is not at all like a pencil or pen. It likes to “snap” at the most inconvenient moments…etc. The lines you make, they vine charcoal tends to crumble unexpectedly, maybe. Keep drawing the lines. This may take you an hour…maybe less maybe more…but eventually what you will see emerge from the surface of your paper is this:
1) A very heavily worked sheet of grey paper with some darker and some lighter marks upon it. This is actually kind of an interesting abstract drawing. It shows you how layers of grey can produce depth to an art piece, simply by applying multiple “layers” of marks.
2) You will now know what to expect, in a tactile sense, of your drawing stick. Like when it seems to want to break, crumble and snap…you will be able to predict that and work within the boundaries better.
3) You should no longer be afraid to draw fat bold lines across a large blank sheet of paper either. Also note, all your “mistakes” are cool parts of you finished drawing.
4) You should see now how “well” or “poorly” a charcoal mark can be erased from a paper’s surface. And you should be able to see that even if a mark’s “ghost” still remains on the paper surface, your drawing can be better off with it still showing than if you never had it at all.
5) You should pat yourself on the back: congratulations, you just completed your first charcoal drawing and can draw straight lines without the aid of a ruler! Oops maybe not right now, you might want to wash your hands first!
BONUS:
Take up your notebook once again. This time, write about the drawing experience, and write a short list of what surprised you, what you liked and did't like about it, and what followed your expectations. There, that's it for your first lesson.
