Clive Bryant - Charcoal portraits three ways

Clive Bryant details three approaches to creating charcoal portraits

“I love working in charcoal. For me, it’s alchemy: using common materials of burnt wood and paper to create a thing of beauty. Working in charcoal is also an excellent way to bridge the gap between pencil drawing and painting since it focuses on planes, values, and forms rather than outlines or details. In this article, I demonstrate three different ways to create a portrait in charcoal. Although I used a different type of paper for each method,
you don’t have to. Just bear in mind that the smoother the paper, the more you will have to use charcoal pencil to get darker marks. I hope these tutorials help you get to grips with this wonderfully versatile medium.”