So I bought me a kneaded eraser for my silly little sketchbook, when I looked at it it said it can also be used for charcoal. One of my teachers uses charcoal for paintinks so.
Tl;Dr what I want: what is charcoal and how do I use it?
>>2407411
Go buy charcoal for drawing and try it yourself. No, really, most of these stuff is a use-it-yourself-and-see rather than explaining what does it do.
It feels really cool using them, interesting tones. However be ready for the black mess fucking everywhere in your first tries.
>>2407411
It's disgusting and messy don't use it
>>2407428
Found the digital painter.
Go away and get your gay hands dirty, pussbag.
>>2407411
Charcoal is mostly a beginner tool. It's like having a big-ass 9000B pencil. You can sketch really quick and make fluid lines and corrections with absolute ease. You can also get a wide range of tones.
Get one if you're too retarded to use a pencil properly.
And be careful because the slightest touch will smudge the shit out of your lines.
>>2407439
You have to be the dumbest fuck I've ever read on IC. Congratulations.
>>2407439
>Get one if you're too retarded to use a pencil properly.
Every time I see beginners use charcoal they literally try to use it like a pencil and do basic lineart with it, and it looks awful.
>>2407450
>the dumbest fuck
>I've ever read on IC
>on IC
>I've ever read
>IC
Welcome to /ic/. Make sure you read the sticky and heed the rules before posting.
Charcoal is fun as fuck, go try it. It feels much more raw than a pencil and I feel like I can be more expressive when using it. I especially love using it when doing gestures. Go try it but be prepared to get messy as fuck, even the charcoals that are made like pencils are messy as fuck.
>>2407411
Vine charcoal is the best thing ever.
If you've only ever used compressed charcoal, you're missing out
>>2407428
What are you doing in this board? I think you got lost on your way to /gd/, friendo
>>2407411
I use kneaded erasers with graphite all the time. It should be fine.
>>2407414
>Go buy charcoal for drawing and try it yourself. No, really, most of these stuff is a use-it-yourself-and-see rather than explaining what does it do.
This.
>>2407439
>not liking charcoal means you only do digital
Look, charcoal is a fucking mess. Some of us don't like that. Give me a pencil any day over charcoal.
>>2407591
>fucking mess
Yeah, if you simply avoid messy techniques you're a /gd/ faggot. I guaranfuckingtee you'll never touch anything with a brush if you follow that attitude.
Mess is a part of art.
>>2407411
Charcoal generally comes in two forms, compressed and vine. It is made by burning wood in the absence of oxygen (as in a sealed metal can). Compressed charcoal is made by taking powdered charcoal, mixing it with a binder like clay and formed into sticks or leads which are made into pencils. It has grades of hardnesses like graphite pencils, which are also made with varying amounts of clay (and other super secret binders to increase smoothness like waxes). They can be used for sketching very much like graphite pencils, or like chalk pastels, depending on the hardnesses. There are usually "white charcoal" sticks and pencils available, which are made with chalk/clay blends to be used with them for achieving different effects and tones, notably effective on drawing done on toned paper. They can be sharpened, sanded and cut to shape. However, usually finished charcoal drawings require fixative to preserve them from smudges. It's soft!
Vine charcoal is literally vines, willow branches or soft wood dowels burnt in the absence of oxygen. Because they are not compressed with added binders, they are much lighter and less saturated, but also tend to be very smooth and gestural. This makes them excellent for quick studies and gesture drawings, and their lightness and ease of erasability makes them popular for underdrawings in drawings of other materials or for paintings.
Just like grades of darkness/pigmentation in charcoal and pencils, erasers have a hierarchy. For very soft charcoals, like vine, often times all you need to do to erase is press or wipe marks away with a soft leather chamois. Middle tier erasing power is your kneaded eraser. It can be shaped and touched to the charcoal marks to lift them off the paper. They can also be used for rubbing away marks, but aren't particulalrly good at it. They are somewhat "self cleaning" when you knead them. Solid rubber erasers of various firmnesses have the strongest erasing powers.
made this in like 10th grade and remember having a lot of fun with charcoal
any recommendations on what kind of paper to use with charcoal? Is sketchbook paper too grainy?
How about the dull side of bristol board
>>2407652
Being halfway between pencils and pastels, charcoal can either be used for line-making, or in a more painterly fashion with stomp/tortillion/chamois blending. Stick forms can be used sideways to lay down large areas of tone. As with graphite, don't blend with fingers because the oils yellow and degrade your paper over time.
>>2407600
>can't use a brush and not make mess
Do you have fucking downs?
last time i used charcoal was 10th grade and made a pretty nice portrait with it, all i remember is its messy af but you can get some nice values with it
How do I get wide range of tones? Do I smear it, or what?
