90
EXPERIMENTING WITH THE CHARCOAL
MEDIUM
MAKING MARKS
As with the pencil, before you start to work
with it in earnest you should become familiar
with the medium and what potential it has.
Charcoal is a very natural medium and
therefore it does not lend itself to very tight
diagrammatic work - it is too messy for that.
It fundamentally lends itself to a more fine
art and expressive notion of drawing. So it is
a more open and expansive type of material
to use.
The type of charcoal marks that are made
in this section tend to imply texture and
surface and therefore can be used in
drawings that have a textural quality to them.
From 1 to 9 there are a few examples of mark
making. These are just a few ideas to
encourage you to experiment with the
medium. What I advise is that you make as
many potential marks as you can, so that you
build up a glossary of mark making that can
effectively be used in the future when and
where appropriate.
1/ Lay a piece of charcoal about 1” to 2” long
flat on the surface of the paper. Then twist it
creating a circle. Repeat this process in a
pattern and you create a texture.
2/ Lay the same piece of charcoal flat on the
paper then move it across the paper in a
wave like fashion. Repeat this motion slightly
over lapping the first row and you can create
a knitted type texture.
3/ Do the same as number two but in a more
geometric manner.
4/ Take the same piece of charcoal and drag
it to create a dash like mark. Repeat this at
regular intervals. If you are drawing a
building with many windows this is a very
useful solution to that visual problem.5/ Do the same as four but angle the mark.
This textured mark could be used for the
implied surface of a woven basket, or the
surface of a parquet floor.6/ Take the charcoal end. Using it on its side
make a small arc by pulling the charcoal in
that direction. Repeat the process as a
reflection of the first arc, and then make a
row of these marks. This tends to give the
impression of a woven texture usually seen
on basketry.7/ A similar process as number 6 but one
makes an angled mark this gives the
impression of a rope.8/ Pulling the charcoal across the surface in
an horizontal direction creates very tight
lines giving the impression of wood grain.9/ Similarly drawing parallel wavy lines can
produce a different type of wood grain.Part Two – CHARCOAL