MATERIALS
• Paper: Mi Teintes Canson pastel paper. Steel grey 431. 160gsm
• Generals Charcoal pencils:HB,2B, and 4B • White Charcoal
• Willow Charcoal
• Drawing board
• Putty eraser
• Blending stumps
• Pencil sharpener (the best ones have a German made blade)
STEP ONE
First draw a grid over the photo reference. Usually I do this at 2cm squares, but it really depends on the size of the piece. (I use Photoshop and place a readymade grid onto my reference.)
STEP TWO
Then have a grid of the same size on a sheet of paper. I draw an outline of the subject on the grid. This is the most important stage of the process, as any mistakes that are made with the line work will affect the finished drawing. Just draw the basic details. There is no shading at this stage.
STEP THREE
Check your line work. Make sure it matches as accurately as possible. Let somebody else have a look and check your work. Once happy, I trace the line work onto a piece of tracing paper. Flip the tracing paper over and now redraw the line work using a 2B graphite pencil or softer.
STEP FOUR
Flip it back and now place it on your grey pastel paper. Rub over the line work on your tracing paper, transferring the line to the paper. (I do this so I don’t have to erase grid lines from my final drawing.) Start to darken some of the lines with the 2B charcoal pencil. The next stage is willow, and if you use willow without darkening your line work it will disappear. Don’t darken every single line, just the ones that will be dark.
STEP FIVE
We now start to add the form using a willow stick. Begin to shade in the shadow on the face. Push the willow in with your finger or a blending stump. Really push it in, don’t lightly smudge it. Willow is very forgiving and is easily erased with the putty eraser so don’t be afraid of it (like a lot of my students seem to be).
Tip: Blending stumps: Use the flat side of the head for blending large areas and the point for fine detail. Charcoal blended with a stump will look different to charcoal blended with a finger.
STEP SIX
Now the willow is down it’s time to add detail to the shadow using your charcoal pencils. You’ll mostly use the 2B with the 4B for the really dark areas of shadow. Finger or blending stumps can be used to help blend the charcoal.
FINAL STEP
Now the final stage and my favourite the white charcoal. Add highlights to your drawing. This really brings the drawing to life. White charcoal blends differently to the dark. It has a slightly waxy feel.
ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
• Spend more time looking at your reference than your drawing. Don’t put your head down and draw without constant referral to your subject. Your mind starts to forget very quickly the image it’s just seen.
• Take your time. Don’t attack the piece. Slowly work over it with care and patience.
• If it looks wrong then it probably is wrong. Check, measure, align. If the corner of the eye is in line with the end of the mouth in your reference is it in your drawing.
• A good reference picture has dramatic shadow and natural light without using the flash (direct on). The flash tends to wash out all of the shadow.
• The tooth on pastel paper is smoother on one side than the other. My preference is for the smoother side.
• The best bit of advice for any artist has to come from Sir Joshua Reynolds, who remarks, “Young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution inciting them on one hand, but also their natural sloth tempting on the other. They are terrified at the prospect before them of the toil required to attain exactness. The impetuosity of youth is disgusted at the slow approaches of a regular siege, and desires, from impatience of labour, to take the citadel by storm. They wish to find some shorter path to excellence, and hope to obtain the reward of eminence by other means than those which indispensable rules of art have prescribed. They must, therefore, be told again and again, that labour is THE ONLY price for solid fame, and that whatever their force of genius may be, there is no easy method of becoming a good painter.”
