The Benefits of Using Charcoal for Your Art Project

Charcoal is one of the oldest media for human visual arts, appearing at various cave art sites dating back to the Paleolithic era. Splashed across the rocks into whimsical and haunting images of wildlife and hunters, these carbonized pieces of wood did then what they still do now—create striking, vivid images of immense depth and authenticity.

For artists eager to put themselves in dialogue with thousands of years of human creativity, charcoal is your way to go. It’s also a fantastic “sandbox” material for creating, editing and learning. In this article, discover some of the undeniable benefits of using this age-old material for your next art project.

It’s Fantastic Guide for the Ideation Process

During the Renaissance, artists used charcoal as a preliminary outlining step when creating a painting. They would draw their ideas in charcoal, leveraging the material’s easily moveable and erasable nature to fine-tune their ideas before any oil-based paints hit the canvas. Next, they might draw grids across the canvas to center figures and visualize their perspective. Once they laid the oils overtop, the charcoal would recede into the background—hidden like the structural beams of a finished building.

You can use charcoal similarly, either to ideate a new project in your sketchbook or to create the foundations of your next painting right on the canvas.

It’s an Exceptional Tool for Learning the Power of Shade and Tonal Value

Tonal value refers to how dark or light a colour shade is in an artwork; it’s one of the fundamental tenets of art. Charcoal allows you to strip away any mitigating colours, hues and tints to focus directly on shade and tonal value. In this way, charcoal offers an exceptional lesson for burgeoning and established artists on how to achieve that perfect interplay between light and dark elements. (For a deeper dive, research “chiaroscuro” in art).

It’s Incredibly Malleable and Forgiving

Whether you use it in a mixed media project, as the foundation for a painting, or on its own, charcoal is a very forgiving material.

Smudge it, smear it, darken it, lighten it, or erase it altogether. Best of all, you can achieve these revisions quickly and intuitively since charcoal needs no other (mandatory) tools but the material itself and your fingers. It’s a hands-on, tactile conversation between you, the page, and the charcoal itself.

On Its Own, It Produces Highly Evocative, Intense Drawings

Lastly, consider charcoal for your next project because of how striking it looks all on its own. Whether you’re creating stark lines with Grumbacher vine charcoal, casting evocative shadows with a Mungyo soft compressed charcoal stump, or finely detailing with a Derwent charcoal pencil, the material gives you complete control over the richness and complexity of your next drawing.

To get started, visit a premium arts supply store like Above Ground Art Supplies that carries a wide range of charcoal products. Ask the helpful staff to point you toward supplies that suit your vision, and try to leave with a variety of charcoal products to give yourself enough options.

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Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.