Charcoal and pastel classwork

Class has started!

We are beginning with sketching and using charcoal. Now, I remember why I dislike  vine and willow charcoal and stopped using it. Ironic, since it's the very medium that I started out with! I still have the old box of vine charcoal from 20 years. It rubs away too easily and then I couldn't get it to stay down in places. I think that I have to find the right paper. MESSY stuff!
Here's a portrait using first charcoal and the white pastel for highlighting. One I used the white pastel the willow charcoal would no longer blend or stick to the paper. I finished my drawing using coloured Contè soft pastels.

On the right is the before picture and the yellow is the actual colour of the paper,specifically usedfor pastel drawing.

We are practising with other drawing mediums and we can choose our own images to draw from, including from our imagination. This one is from my imagination using ink and Pan Pastels. When I first got these I didn't like them but I discovered that you need to use a very smooth paper like Bristol board or vellum paper in order for the Pastels to blend well. Other than this idiscovery I, still think that they are very limited and mostly good for shading and scrapbook or art journaling. 

I also tried to copy a portrait supplied by Misty but I found it difficult to draw because it had so little contrast and shading. Apart from the eyes, nothing else looked like the original drawing and her nose is way to long and all is out of proportion! Must remind myself to work on an easel when doing large drawings. You can see that the bottom of the face looks larger compared to the eyes. That's because I was working at a wrong angle. Well, it's too cosy on the sofa with the fire on ;)

This look like a caricature to me!

Back to graphite pencils and this was the result when I worked much smaller and  with graphite pencils. The aim of this exercise is to draw the head at different angles

HAPPY MAIL!  

I GOT THIS FANTASTIC PAINTING  as a gift from my very talented FB friend Lisa Pantencio! I LOVE her work! Take a look here

Lisa Pantencio Art