Drawing Towards Portraits In Charcoal

a model rarely looks familiar when drawn in an outline only, because an outline misses the depth and shapes that are recognisable features of the face.

Portraits test our observational skills to the limit, so to familiarise yourself with #proportion, #shapes and contours, it is essential to practise #drawing regularly. Using #pencil or #charcoal to obtain the likeness of a person can be incredibly rewarding and provide a positive learning experience. From my own practice, a model rarely looks familiar when drawn in an outline only, because an outline misses the #depth and shapes that are recognisable features of the #face. This may account for any struggles you may have had with #portraiture in the past. You have to push beyond an outline. I personally use a couple of drawing methods when #sketching people, one is a loose approach where I mould the #portrait, and the other is a study, where I intensely look and strive to achieve an almost graphical depiction.

Pencils

Pencils suit a #graphical portrait study. I generally begin with a hard grade pencil, something like HB, and I mark in the #proportions of the head, using a simple rectangle around the #face. To obtain the right shape, I use a pair of L shaped mounts held at arm’s length to frame the top, bottom and sides of the face, then I roughly transfer that shape to my #paper. I follow it with the proportions of the #eyes, #nose, and #mouth. To locate these, I divide the drawn rectangle into three horizontal sections. The top third line forms the #brow line with the eyes located underneath, about one third into the middle section. The bottom third line forms the base of the nose with the mouth line below that, about one third into that section. This is just a #framework that set’s #proportion, but from here on I make careful #observations looking at both #positive and #negative shapes, for example, the shape of the nose but also how that relates to the shape of the #cheek between the bridge of the nose and the eye and so on. I mark up all these lightly in hard pencil before progressing into softer pencil.

Forms

As a painter, I look for #forms, the shapes and #blocks that make up the contoured angles and dynamics of the face. Without these, the portrait is often barely recognisable. In my pencil work I look for a block of #value that gives a particular feature its form, for example, the rectangular shape of the cheek or the triangular shadow down the side of a nose. I lightly draw the shape and add the #shading, moving to the next shape and so on until the face adapts depth and recognition. It’s how I paint, adding blocks of colour instead of the hatched pencil lines of a drawing. Sometimes the shapes are very subtle and barely discernible, but nevertheless important, and I find the more I look, the more I see them.

I like to use soft brushes with charcoal to achieve beautiful soft blends and a gentle subtlety that cannot be achieved through the use of finger blends.

Charcoal

Charcoal is a wonderful #medium to work with and it is incredibly adept at generating soft #edges. It can be messy, especially if you don’t use appropriate #tools, for example, #blending with fingers can be okay, but it’s not entirely accurate and the hands become dirty very quickly, which can lead to a messy #drawing. I like to use soft #brushes with charcoal to achieve beautiful soft blends and a gentle subtlety that cannot be achieved through the use of finger blends. Smaller elements can be shaded with blender sticks, which direct much stronger control over subtle areas of value. Because the charcoal remains loose on the paper, it is recommended to use a #fixative to set the drawing and prevent smudging. Whilst this is a primary use for fixative, I use it to generate deliberate #layers, which increases the dark values by allowing charcoal to be applied on top of charcoal. #Erasers are also essential tools when using charcoal to depict shapes. Cutting back with a kneadable #art eraser makes soft edged positive shapes and cutting back with a standard eraser makes harder edged shapes. By cutting a slice off a standard eraser, very thin and fine lines can be taken out of a charcoal layer. Look at the demonstration of Aya and notice the fine #sunlit hairs that I removed with a single pass of an eraser slice.

Demonstration

Stage 1

I began with a soft 30mm #flat brush and roughly blocked in the #shape of the model’s head using charcoal dust that I ground on sandpaper. The soft beginning helped me establish #shapes without committing any hard lines to the paper. I used ordinary #cartridge paper with a slight #grain, which was just enough to take the charcoal. Once I had established the overall shape of the head, I used a soft kneadable art eraser to cut out the positive shapes. I then used a soft #willow charcoal stick to mark in the hair, softening all the time with the brush.

Stage 2

I continued #erasing, shaping and moving around loose charcoal with the brush, constantly looking at the shapes and #angles and focussing only on those without attempting to make a perfect rendition. The process is all about #moulding the face.

Stage 3

When the main shapes and #profiles were established, I began to work on smaller shapes, checking angles and #proportions all the time. With a little more pressure and careful application, I marked in the eye, nostril, ear, and hair to bring about some #contrast. I still cut out shapes with the eraser and fine-tuned some shading using a blender stick.

Stage 4

It is important to constantly stand back and #analyse angles and shapes. After bringing in

some recognisable features to the #drawing, I realised that the angle of the model’s jaw was a little too vertical. With some strong charcoal application of the background value, I cut back the lips and mouth.

Stage 5

When I was happy with the #face, I increased the dark #values of the #background and the model’s hair, using the brush once again to soften #edges.

Stage 6

At this point I had a lot of charcoal on the paper. I double checked that I was happy with the drawing, before giving the #portrait a layer of fixative.

Stage 7

Aya, Charcoal on cartridge paper 12 x 8in (30 x 20cm)

When the fixative was dry, I used a short piece of willow charcoal on its side and applied some broad #strokes to add a few hard edges to the hair #profile. I also darkened the background to generate the contrast of the #light on her face.

Materials used

Cartridge paper with a fine grain

Soft willow charcoal sticks

Kneadable art eraser

Standard eraser

Blender sticks

30mm flat watercolour brush

Fixative

Craft knife

Sandpaper

Author: Paul Talbot=Greaves ©2024

Originally published in The Artist magazine, ©April 2021

Paul Talbot-Greaves RI, Artist, Author, Tutor

Paul Talbot-Greaves is a member of the Royal Institute Of Painters In Watercolours, and has been painting and writing for 30 years. He writes many articles for The Artist magazine (UK), has four practical art books published and has contributed to various others. He is represented by numerous galleries based around the North of England. He can be found on Instagram and Facebook where he regularly posts up to date pieces and inspirational stories.