ones I use for longer drawings intended to be hung at a gallery or someone’s home.

I commonly use charcoal on newsprint paper when sketching and demonstrating. Newsprint

is very cheap and an enjoyable surface to draw on because of how cleanly it takes the

charcoal. However newsprint is not archival. It will yellow and wrinkle over time. So,

if you’re doing a longer drawing that you want to preserve, it’s not a good option.

So, let’s go over some archival options.

Graphite

So, the first option I’m gonna go over is using graphite pencils, instead of charcoal.

Graphite pencils are great! They get you almost a full range of values, you can get a bunch

of them with varying degrees of hardness, they allow for very precise detail drawing,

and they don’t smudge much.. Most of us have been using graphite pencils since first

grade. It’s your everyday #2 pencil. So, we’re comfortable using it.

Graphite works best when using only the tip of a finely sharpened pencil. Since you’re

always using the tip, the drawing ends up being very detailed. The medium wants to be

very precise, but it also takes a much longer time to shade.

Though you can just use any old #2 pencil to do a drawing, I recommend getting some

professional grade tools. When I made the switch I noticed a significant improvement

in my line quality and precision.

My favorites are the Staedtler brand. Individual wooden pencils are good, but I like the mechanical

even more. I like that it’s slightly heavier and the sharpener that you get for it gets

the tip very sharp, and mechanical pencils stay the same length no matter how many times

you sharpen them, so you don’t have to deal with tiny little pencils. With wooden pencils

you have to rely on access to an electric sharpener wherever you go or carry one of

those crappy portable ones. The sharpener for the staedtler mechanical pencil is portable

AND it works beautifully.

The whole pencil setup will cost you a bit, but it’s worth it. Let’s go through each

item.

You’ll need a Staedtler Mars Technico Lead Holder. Now this doesn’t hold your regular

0.5 and 0.7 mm lead. Oh no, you’re working with the big boys now. This guy holds 2mm

lead! I get the hb, 2b and 4b packs. I use the hb for the initial layin and light halftone

shading, the 2b for darker halftones and some shadows, and the 4b for the darker shadows.

You’re gonna need a ‘lead pointer’, that’s what they call their sharpener. Pull

out about 1.5 cm of the lead, put it in the hole and spin! Just be careful not to get

too wild with the sharpener because you can break the tip.

For the paper, I like to use the Strathmore 400 or 500 Series Bristol Board. I prefer

the smoothest surface possible, so I look for the words ‘smooth’, ‘plate’ or

‘hot press’. They all basically mean ‘smooth’.

To erase, I like a kneaded eraser, or as the british call them, “rubbers”. I like ‘em

because I can shape them to erase large areas, or small details. They also don’t poop crumbs

all over the paper like some others do. And when they get dirty, just knead them to clean

‘em up.

Optionally you can add a layer of charcoal under the graphite pencil. Though I do use

it for most of my longer drawings, like this, you could manage without it, like this.. The

powder is applied with a brush, which I’ll show in the shading video. This allows you

create very soft gradations which are hard to do with the pencil. And it allows you to

quickly cover large areas of dark which is tedious to do with the pencil. When you use

the powder you blend a lot of your shapes together which can reveal some lost edges.

And lost edges look totally awesome in a drawing...

I use this same approach in my upcoming video on shading. Look out for that.

You’ll also see me using a scrap paper or bridge to rest my hand on. If you’re like

me, by the time you’re done with the drawing, the bottom of your hand is completely covered

in charcoal. Use this to rest your hand on to keep your hand AND your drawing clean.

One thing many people dislike about graphite is the shine. When you go dark with graphite

it starts to become reflective. If this glossiness bothers you, then consider using charcoal

pencils.

Once you’re done, you can spray the drawing with fixative to prevent any smudging. If

you used powder, I really recommend you fix it. After you spray the drawing, you can draw

on top of it, but you can’t erase what you sprayed.

Charcoal Pencils

So, a lot of the materials for my charcoal drawings is the same as graphite. We still

have the kneaded eraser, powder, brushes, scrap paper or bridge, and the spray. The

only two differences are the pencils (obviously, they’re charcoal instead of graphite) and

the paper. You could use the same paper for both, but these are just my preferences.

The pencil I use is a Conte 1710 HB, B or 2B. I like to use the hb or b for layins and

shading the light halftones, and the 2b for shading the shadows. If you’re wondering

how to sharpen it like that, check out this video.

I've been looking for a paper that takes a charcoal pencil cleanly without much texture

breaking up the strokes, especially when using the side of the pencil to get soft gradations

of tone. Most of them just don’t do it for me.“Arches 88 silk screen paper” is the

best I've found. It has very little texture, it’s soft, and doesn't fall apart much when

erasing. If you're used to drawing on newsprint this is a good archival alternative

Where do you get this stuff?

In the description I have the full list of all these supplies with links to where you

could buy them online. Depending on where you live, you might be able to find this stuff

at your local art store. But, i don’t know. You guys are watching this video all around

the world, so I have no idea about the availability of these where you might be. Hopefully you

could at least buy them online and the shipping isn’t too expensive.

Ok, that about wraps it up! To see an example of how I use these supplies, watch my next

video.

Make sure to check out Proko.com/store for all the online video courses I have available,

such as Portrait Fundamentals and Figure Fundamentals, and a lot more no the way.

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to be updated about new videos. Buh Bye!