Charcoal is one of the oldest used art materials. It is used as a tool for drawing or making rough sketches or portraits. The large format drawings are made with the simplest of materials i.e. powdered charcoal applied with cotton balls, cotton swabs and then manipulated with fingertips and erasers. These portraits generally require application of some sort of a fixative. Artists in general use three forms of coal:
Vine Charcoal: - Created by burning sticks of wood into soft, medium and hard consistencies.
Compressed Charcoal: - Consists of charcoal powder mixed with gum binder compressed into round or square sticks. The amount of binder determines hardness of stick.
Powdered Charcoal: - This is often used to tone or cover large sections of a drawing surface.
The main thing to be taken care of in case of charcoal drawings is that, unless it is fixed by the application of some form of a gum or resin, it can easily be erased or smudged. However, while other art materials may have greater color saturation than charcoal, few do last as long!
The best part about using charcoal as a drawing medium lies in its spontaneity and sensitivity. The difference between traditionally used pencils and charcoal is the feel that each of the medium has. Unlike pencil, charcoal is so fast, direct and responsive, that it is amongst the least inhibiting media. It can produce bold and fluid lines and a great host of textures. In fact, charcoal is perhaps the only drawing material which is capable of imitating a Chinese ink brush painting. Each of these paintings is rendered either on white 100% acid free paper or on watercolor board.
Charcoal is extensively used across the globe as a medium for developing self portraits. Although charcoal is widely used as a medium for drawing, the major disadvantage of using charcoal is its tendency to ‘dust-off’. However, recently with people going in for glass frames or fixative sprays, charcoal drawings have once again recovered as an expressive medium in its own way.
