Everything I know about charcoal drawing in one video
Learning to draw? I have a course for you. "Pencil Sketching for Beginner Artists" is a simple, stress-free roadmap to radically improve your sketching skills. In weeks, not years: www.louisestigell.com/pencil-...
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MENTIONED
Mad Charcoal KZread channel: / @madcharcoal
Art Skills Online channel: / artskillsonline
TIME STAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:55 - Why I love charcoal
04:24 - My charcoal workstation setup
06:01 - Pan Pastel
06:55 - Vine charcol
07:18 - Charcoal pencils
07:42 - Achieving a "painterly" look with charcoal
08:14 - Erasers
09:39 - Paper
12:03 - My drawing/painting process (painting a crow in charcoal)
14:58 - Sharpening charcoal pencils
16:57 - How I avoid smudging my charcoal drawings
17:59 - Using spray fixative to seal my drawings
19:34 - How I store my charcoal drawings
ABOUT
Hi, I’m Louise: an artist, writer & creative solopreneur from Sweden. As a multi-passionate creative, I have spent my entire adult life avoiding traditional employment and instead making a living off of my art.
On this channel, I talk about everything I've learned along the way: About art making, creativity, mental health, and making a living as a creative. Dealing with perfectionism, fears, and overwhelm. Staying sane and productive among stress and distractions. And much more.
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Пікірлер: 179
My favorite thing about charcoal is going into public not realizing I have smudge marks after scratching my face while drawing causing me to look like a forlorn 19th century chimney sweep boy.
@siddharthyadav9004
7 ай бұрын
That's wonderful. Relatable
@shockingdocumentaries4255
7 ай бұрын
Ditto. 😂 I wonder what you’d say about someone who always has charcoal on their hands and oil paint on their clothes
Great video about such a great medium. I teach a 12 week beginner, intermediate drawing class that continues into an advanced session. That class can go another 12 weeks so we cover a lot. On day one I tell students they won’t be using erasers to fix mistakes in my class and many folks get upset. As we get deeper into the class the eraser is finally introduced as a tool to strengthen values and negative space. Each session I marvel as they suddenly see my reasoning for allowing erasers back into their tool box. By the advanced session everyone is doing negative pull drawings and using pan pastel with graphite powder. Their drawings are all loose with dramatic texture and tonal values. I’m truly blessed to see these advancements happen right in front of my eyes and I have graphite to thank for it. Have fun and happy drawing everyone.
I had a good, long, genuine laugh at the "why do I have a white desk, drawers, etc..." part. Thanks
You have the best explanation of toning your "canvas" that I have found so far. Thank you for sharing your work!
@LouiseStigell
2 жыл бұрын
Haha, thank you! And yeah, "mahl stick" sounds kinda familiar... 😊
@davinavalaydon2961
Жыл бұрын
I there, where might I find Louise's explanation for toning canvases?
Me too, black and white, we should all be seen the world in black and white. A nostalgic feeling the black and white would give you and also dry and undefined configuration. All my portraits are in charcoal.
This is how charcoal captured me as well. Tried it in highschool and had a very negative experience. Got back into drawing again at the beginning of the pandemic and went straight for graphite. A year later I tried charcoal again, fell in love with it and never looked back. It's expressive, mysterious and cloudy, incredibly forgiving and you can reach super high levels of contrast .
Thank you for your crows. I love one of our bird that was introduced to our country and is classified as a pest but I love the call it makes to its mate and its colouring. It’s a Mag pie.
Mad Charcoal got me back into drawing. Nice work you’ve got there too.
i use sandpaper to sharpen my charcoal! Love the video
I love a cool silver grey in my studio. Not pure white to hide paint and smudges but not so dark that it absorbs all the light in the room
I am professional artist and instructor here in Chelsea, Manhattan and I also create with charcoal. I love the medium and its ancient history....It was probably first used the very night that prehistoric cave primates, possibly Homo Habilis, 2million years ago or Homo Erectus,1 million years ago, first controlled fire and cooked a meal with burning wood. After dinner they must have played around with the burnt wood, smudging each others faces for fun and later maybe to scare any rivals that would come into their territory to take resources. Wonderful video! ...I liked and subscribed!
Ive been struggling so hard with it for a month now, switched to tan paper and started using a white charcoal pencil and some grey pastels in addition to compressed, took everything i learned and it finally clicked, produced my first portrait ever that I don't hate. I cannot say the same for graphite despite it being my primary medium. Think im gonna go all in and get the powders and special brushes. You sold me. Thanks for sharing your art with us.
What a lovely demonstration,you are very inspiring.Thanks for sharing your knowledge.❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
you explain so well and your passion comes through. You are very easy to listen to as well. Thank you from Australia
'Thank you' Louise for this marvelous video! I, too, am completely taken by charcoal and the pan pastel experience. It feels like sculpting to me and the open-ended ease of creations is pure joy...you really conveyed it all in 20 minutes! Mollie
Very clair demonstration. Thank you for your generosity❤
Thank you so much for this great video and for sharing your knowledge and experience!
Thank you very much. I found this relaxing and helpful. Love your birds!
Thank you, Louise. Thanks for reminding me how much I love charcoal… and your work too!
You just made me your fan.. the way you spoke and approach towards the drawings and painting hobby to achieve enjoy happiness and satisfying for the creative and artistic minds who are stuck with boring IT jobs.
Very helpful! Thank you! I also am into depicting crows and ravens in charcoal right now, and doing studies on different papers. And we have a resident crow family that hangs out in the yard around my studio, providing lots of inspiration!
Black is my favorite color! I’m new to drawing, painting (was) my favorite art media however I tried drawing a crow in charcoal LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!! 🖤🖤🖤😍
Beautiful art,thankyou for the tips ❤❤❤
I’m very much a beginner in terms of charcoal drawing. This video was HUGELY informative and helpful. Thank you. Very excited to be making charcoal drawings.
Love this video so much! Thank you 🖤
Thank you, Louise. I'm just beginning to work with charcoal (I think I'm going to become addicted to it). This video is very helpful! Your art work is gorgeous.
Thanks for sharing your charcoal art video. Amazing
Yes thank you. Very helpful...always wanted to do it...
Thanks for the info.I'll try.
I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. This is the most helpful video I have seen on charcoal and it has got me excited to start drawing again now that I know the best products to use. Thank you for sharing.
beautiful work
Awesome tutorial artistry just took place thank you Zoe
What a fantastic and informative video! Thank you for making it and sharing.
Beautiful work.
Beautiful thx for sharing ❤ love the Bristol Smooth paper so good for charcoal drawing love your work.
I absolutely loved this and Im waiting for my pastel black to arrive. I’m really excited and inspired thank you
Thanks so much for this video.. I learned so much from you
Thank you for sharing. I’m hoping to start a charcoal piece of my wife. But I haven’t worked up the courage to do it. Watching your video certainly helped
Do you copy images from a book? From photographs? From life? Live your tutorial. Very lovely soft and soothing to watch and listen to- and learn from! Your work is inspiring and I love birds, so am very impressed with your skillful renderings! Thank you.
I really enjoyed your video. I like Charcoal. I used it more back in art school than I do now. I still have a portfolio of some of those pieces. Your work is beautiful!
@LouiseStigell
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much! 😊 Yeah, charcoal really is an art school thing, haha. And a hit or miss for many of us. Happy I gave it another shot.
Those birds are fabulous! I just bought a load of really cheap willow charcoal from an art shop that was getting rid of that section so I can't wait to try using it. Thanks for the inspiration!
So informative, and it was really good to see the demo. Thanks for sharing all of it, even the fixative bit at the end. 😄
Thanks, Louise. I very much enjoyed this video and learnt a lot from it. I used to enjoy art when I was young but never really took it anywhere. But now I have more time I have decided to get back into it. I have been looking around for what medium I would like to use and I find charcoal appeals to me the most. In fact listening to you explain why you enjoy working in black and white it sounded as if I was talking to myself. One of the things I love with black and white photography is the dynamic contrast it can bring. One of the surprising discoveries is how many different forms charcoal takes. As well as sticks and pencils you can get it in blocks, powder, pastels, paint pans and tubes. And not just in black but coloured as well. I am going to enjoy exploring all of these. I see we also share a love for the corvids, a highly intelligent birds. I also noticed your drawings of the octopus. Again highly intelligent, very inquisitive and self taught. Thanks again
thank you for this video! I am currently in school learning to use charcoal and it seems to be a very interesting medium!!! great video
Beautiful work and very very informative video
thanks my friend...it was awesome
great video. I started drawing, and this looks like something I want to try in future. tnx
Awesome video thank u you have made me want to try charcoal again x
Oh, you hit me deep when you brought up graphite becoming a silvery mess because you overdid the graphite trying to get certain areas darker. It's horrible when that happens. Ugh, then I have to start over. Good thing I have Light tablet for tracing. 😊
Hi, thanks you for sharing your knowledge about charcoal, i've draw some pieces with them and i try your process, and like it ! It's so simple and clear, it help me to improve myself with charcoal ! Cheers and take care of you.
Great video thank you
I adore crows your Crow is darling! This video covered all about charcole so thanks for sharing Louise because I always wanted to know... My favourite is watercolour it was love at first sight just bonded with it 💜
@LouiseStigell
2 жыл бұрын
Awww thank you! Crows ARE darlings. 🖤🥰 And congratulations on falling in love with watercolors! 😌
Love your style ❤
What beautiful drawings
Thank you for the great video.
I just bought a charcoal pencil without knowing how to use it 😁 and your video helps a lot, thank you. And your voice is really calming, really enjoy watching your video ❤❤
Beautiful
Thanks for sharing!!
Very beautiful. I love charcoal aswell.❤
you and I are so alike graphite wasn’t cutting it for me! I do faces, and it’s been a learning experience with charcoal but I love it. I love the darkness. Thank you so much for sharing.
Wonderfully informative video!
Very Informative!
I think you can use Hairspray as a fixative as well?
Thanks for this-I never tried charcoal cux it's so messy. But I don't know, I tried it just for the hell of it and I CAN'T stop-I freakin love it!! It's a blast what u can do with it!!
hello from USA, Sweden, great job! very nice job - thank you for sharing.
Oh my goodness, since you recommened your fave artists in your last video, I have become quite obsessed with charcoal drawings (something I never really use). I am in love with the emotive quality of the marks you can make with it.... it dark, its moody, it's really alive. Your crows are gorgeous! And gosh, thank you for introducing me to Mad Charcoal's work. I'd really like to experiment more with this medium, and make some art that has feeling and atmosphere.
@bigblue6917
Жыл бұрын
I found Mad Charcoal about the same time you did. I love watching to image come together.
@lawsdraws
Жыл бұрын
@@bigblue6917 it is sorcery!
thank you
You sound like me with the black color…I love black and white
I like your drawings, Louise. What you created for yourself to keep your hand above your drawing is called a "mahl stick" and I use mine a lot.
Impressive ! Actually what astounded me was that I use the same laptop ‘table’ to do my drawings..actually I got it so that I could eat my meals in bed while watching tv but I found a better use for it…I am definitely going to try charcoal.I have tried to in the past but like you soda I didn’t like the mess…but I will have a go at it once again ..Thank you.Keep inspiring and stay blessed.
I don’t know why I laughed so hard when You were running away from the fixative 😂😂😂😂
thank you that was great
Wonderful information (Jättebra!) and thank you for sharing your knowledge. And I totally get you on the smudge marks everywhere!! BTW, alcohol and kitchen paper towels remove it quickly but wet wipes are the best IMO. Great choice on Corvids too - love them and they are so damn smart!! A few other tips from what I’ve found: #1) For the tombow, for very fine lines cut the end off at an angle!! #2) To stop smudging in your sketchbook tape some glassine paper to cover the charcoal. Like adding in a extra page and bind/tape to folding edge. #3) Use glassine paper to rest on and cover work whilst drawing too avoiding the smudging.
A piece of tracing paper held on one end with a piece of drafting tape (so you can easily lift the untaped side) helps protect from smudging. I do that for graphite.
I love corvids too!!! Your art is amazing
Loved when I drew with charcoal
I love all colours in everthing i do. My favoriete colour is pink😊👍🏾🖐🏾😁
You don't know How much I love you!!!
@LouiseStigell
2 жыл бұрын
Awww thank you! 🖤🙏
Subscribed. Brava!
Really enjoyed your video... will definitely use many of your tips!! suggest using a room air purifier when you can't go outside to spray fixative
Beautiful, maybe I won't give up just yet😁😁
Good one
hi. enjoyed that. been using charcoal for years. spectrafix do a fixative that is non toxic and used with a fine mist spray thing. its a little less refined than traditional fixatives, tends to be abit splattery. which can help if you have a very loose painterly quality. lots of youtubers...... showing spectrafix. personally i prefer a homemade sanded surface so i dont have to deal with fixatives. oh yeah, natural hog brushes for detailed blending in tight spots. all other hair types are more like erasers in varying degrees. packaging peanuts of great blending tools too. hope you many years of enjoyment messing with this wonderfull medium.
Love it! I just suscribed.
wooow it’s nice.
Amazing charcoal drawing,,, Love it,,,,, Greetings from a new friend,, Always Best Wishes to you,, Have a great day,,
I saw your 'quitting instagram' video on my YT page and watched that, then was intrigued to see the kind of work you do. I absolutely love the charcoal drawings, love black & white and love birds, so you now have another subscriber. Beautiful work and I really enjoyed watching your process. I have a lot of charcoal medium but hadn't seen the pan pastel before, so I'm inspired to do some charcoal artwork and I'll be visiting my local art supplies shop tomorrow! Thank you, Louise. :)
@LouiseStigell
2 жыл бұрын
Wow, thank you so much! 🖤 And welcome. And hope you'll have lot of fun with the pan pastel. I should make some more videos about that soon. Need to practice. 😌
@chris.369
2 жыл бұрын
Exactly the same! I am a coloured pencil artist and fed up with FB and IG and bird lover. When I saw the thumbnail of this video and had to check it out. These are awesome!
I love charcoal!
"And now i'm madly in love. This is the medium my soul has been longing for"
You should try pastel. Omgoodness. There are so many of the great things about charcoal but with color!
Lovely work! What is the size of your folder/portfolio with the clear sleeves for your paintings? Thanks.
Louise, what a great video! Thank you. By any chance, would you have any tips on charcoal/graphite drawing on canvas and canvas boards? Have a good Sunday :)
You are neat! I’ve learned a lot this 20:14 vid. Thank you
great video
I think what you love is values.
Very helpful thanks Louise! I hope you have come across Butcherbirds in your drawing adventures as they are just your type! They come and sing to me outside my window while I paint (in Australia) :)
TY! SAME HERE...DOING IT ON IPAD...SO I DUN HAVE TO CLEAN
You can try using mat lamination... Perfect for charcoal and graphite... Its batter then glass
Hi, love your sharing. I have a finished charcoal painting on watercolour paper and want to now fix it onto a cradle panel? Do you frame this way? If so do you have any hints on success
Try baking paper between pages, use a small piece of tape to hold it at the top or on the side to stop it from sliding around - you can also use a fixative spray to reduce the smudging further...
@LouiseStigell
2 жыл бұрын
I have tried that, and it's a great tip! I'm just too lazy to do it most of the time, haha...