Erase Shadows
When Drawing With Charcoal
When you work with charcoal, you can make individual marks with it or you can use a subtractive approach. In a subtractive drawing approach, you lay charcoal across your paper and use an eraser to pull out the highlights. The end result focuses on shapes and shadows, which can emerge moodily from the dark background.
Instructions
1. Fill in your entire sheet of paper with charcoal. Make sure you create an even layer of charcoal, which allows you to pull up the highlights and create the shadows more consistently.
2. Use a chamois or a brush to remove excess charcoal dust from your paper. If there's dust on your paper, you'll smudge your highlights.
3. Plan your composition before you begin. Decide how much of the portrait or figure you want to include and also decide where to place it on the page. It's difficult to make major compositional changes in a subtractive drawing.
4. Squint at the model or other reference material you're using so you can see the big shapes. Pay special attention to light areas.
5. Pull up the charcoal in the lightest areas by applying your kneaded gum eraser to it. You can also establish midtones by lightening the charcoal with your eraser rather than pulling it up.
6. Leave the darkest shadows as the original black charcoal.
7. Stand back from your drawing as you work to see the overall effect. You're able to see the light and shadow shapes easier from a few feet back.
