I started out using charcoals in the late 1970s, and still feel great pleasure in getting my hands dirty.
First published January 13, 2023: This week I was surfing the ‘Net and came upon Artists Network. (I am sure I have been there before, but I was probably in a different place in my learning curve.) I was actually looking to see what types of online art magazines are out there. Few show up on my Instagram feed, and that, unfortunately, seems to be my main information highway of choice currently. (Unfortunate because I believe I am probably limited by what Meta algorithms show me… just a theory).
In perusing the Artists Network home page, I saw a link to a charcoal portrait tutorial and clicked on it. The tutorial is called Drawing a Woman’s Portrait in Charcoal. It was nine minutes long, and I have to admit, with my experience with charcoals, I wasn’t sure I could learn anything new. Live and learn. Scott Maier has taken his full-length tutorial (available to Artists Network’s members) and condensed it to nine minutes of highlights so that he can offer it for free on YouTube. The nine minutes were very valuable in reminding me of best practices when working in charcoal. Scott also shared his tools for the portrait, which was very helpful. I have struggled in the past, trying to decide when to use willow sticks vs. compressed charcoal pencils. His demonstration helped me understand the different effects that he can get with each.
The other thing I struggle with when using charcoals is making sure the subject does not look dirty. There is a fine line between great shading and just looking smudged. While Scott didn’t get that detailed on how to manage smudging, his demonstration of his blending tools and the use of his erasers was inspiring.
I chose to use my own reference photo, one of my daughter holding her daughter on a safari bus at the Adventure Park in Columbus.It was a very warm day, and my daughter was loving the heat, while my granddaughter looked a bit irritated. To me, it is more important to get the expression right than to get the face exactly the same as the subject. I think I achieved the expressions, here, but I will let the reader be the judge. Here is the reference photo and the resulting portrait.
I could pick apart my drawing all day long. It would be easier to start over, which I may do. My main issue with this is that their lips are as dark as their eyes, which is not in the ref photo.
I still have more to learn, and I have to confess: I joined the Artists Network so that I can watch Scott’s full version of his lesson. It is $99 for a year and there are lots of tools on the site besides tutorials.
And I will keep practicing!
Happy painting…