Lyra Graphite Stick 9b

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Charcoal has a considerably different chemical structure than Graphite, despite both being made from carbon. The make-up of charcoal is much more non-uniform and irregular. The structure folds in on itself, which gives charcoal its soft, crumbly texture. This structure not also makes charcoal a fantastic drawing tool, but also makes it suitable for other applications like filtering. How do you make Charcoal? Ancient Hawthorns – Honister Pass, The Lake District, mixed-media drawing with Wallace Seymour Liquid Graphite on Canson Moulin du Roy Not 140lb (300gsm), (51x56cm) Nicolas-Jacques Conte (namesake of the Conte brand) supposedly made the first modern pencil for Napoleon in 1795. This pencil is made by roasting clay, purified graphite and water in a kiln and then putting it is a wood sheath. Joseph Hardmuth, then improved the technique by discovering you could change the hardness of the pencil by varying the amount of clay used. Charcoal powder. Liquid fixative is especially effective to use with Nitram Charcoal Powder. Apply liquid fixative to a support and then sprinkle the charcoal powder into the media for some great textural effects. There are many more techniques to discover with this exceptional medium. Autumn Woodland, Rydal Hall, Lake District, mixed-media drawing on white Canson Mi-Teintes Touch pastel paper, (50x65cm)

Sketch, sketch and sketch! The more you draw the more confident you will be as an artist. Good drawing means great painting. Robert Dutton is a UK ambassador for Canson papers and Nitram Charcoal and an associate artist for Unison Colour pastels and Derwent. He has won awards for his work and is a popular tutor, leading a number of creative painting and drawing holidays and short breaks in the UK and Europe. For more information, visit www.rdcreative.co.uk You can find out more about Graphite Pencils in our Choosing the Right Graphite Sketching & Drawing Pencil article. Tinted Graphite Caran d’Ache Technalo RGB Water-Soluble Tinted Graphite Pencils (left) and Derwent Graphitint Tinted Graphite Pencils (right) |Graphite and Charcoal are staple sketching tools for almost all artists. Whether you’re a painter, sculptor, life-drawing enthusiast or sketch as a hobby you’ll most likely have used both. You’ll probably find a mix of the two in many studios and workshops. While both are carbon-based, the differences in their atomic structure result in two very different drawing experiences. You may find yourself asking which is better for beginners – graphite or charcoal? Which format should you buy? What working properties will they bring to your next project? We aim to answer all these questions and help you work out which will be perfect for your artwork. Graphite vs. Charcoal – An OverviewIf you’re working with charcoal you may come across tinted ‘White Charcoal’ pencils. Technically these aren’t ‘true’ charcoal as they are made up of white pigment and binder, but they can be used alongside charcoal in your artwork. The word pencil comes from the latin ‘pencillus’ that means little tail and originally referred to a small brush used for working in ink during the medieval times. Our modern pencils earnt this name by having a wooden pencil and a small pointed tip like a tiny brush, or ‘pencillus’, would have. Much easier to create broad, expressive marks, so may be more suitable for beginners working on a large scale. Charcoal and Graphite both bring different properties to your work. Beginners may find it useful to weigh up the pros and cons of using both drawing materials, before settling on one to start with. Charcoal Pros

It is much messier than Graphite to work with. Even if you use Charcoal pencils you will still find that they generate more dust than graphite. Graphite is an allotrope ( different structural form) of the element carbon. Although both Graphite and Charcoal are carbon based, the atomic structure of each varies quite dramatically. In graphite, carbon has a uniform arrangement, in distinct layers. Between these layers are very weak chemical bonds. As you draw, these weak bonds break allowing each layer to effortlessly leave the main graphite crystal. This property is how pencils glide so easily over your paper. They leave marks from tiny shards of graphite sheared from the main crystal. How do you make Graphite? They are found in the same variety of hardnesses as compressed charcoal ranging from extra soft to hard, also referred to as 6B to HB.As you build up your confidence using graphite and charcoal separately, you could move onto combining them both in a drawing. Using both materials alongside each other can create an interesting contrast between matte and reflective areas. Limit your drawing periods to just one hour (or less). This will force you to focus on the essence of the composition and create freer, looser drawings filled with excitement. Pennine Showers and Melting Snow, mixed-media drawing with ink and pastel on white Canson Mi-Teintes Touch 350gsm, (50x65cm)

The first appearance of graphite encased in wood dates from around 1565, close to the time natural graphite was first discovered in Cumbria. Other natural sources exist in Siberia, Germany and in the USA. However graphite is now artificially produced by heating cokes (another carbon allotrope) at high temperatures.Compressed charcoal is made by mixing charcoal powder with grease and wax binders. It produces dark, bold marks that cannot easily be erased. It varies in texture according to the blend of charcoal, clay and fillers used.

Graphite Pencils are perhaps the first drawing tools you’ll be introduced to as a beginner. They’re simple and easy to use, and most people are familiar with them outside an art setting. Derwent Graphitone is a very stylish and pure graphite water-soluble pencil available in 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B. I find they dissolve better than other brands to create sumptuous passages of tone. Layering one tint over another is pure joy. Fixative should never be frowned on. It is an effective way of further extending your repertoire – to darken passages of pastel and drawing pigments – as well as an effective way to protect your work from smudging. There are two main types of fixative – liquid and aerosol. Hairspray doesn’t even come into the equation! Although hairspray does contain some of the materials of a fixative, the effects only last a short term and ultimately damages the drawing as it yellows over time. If you have respect for your work and your buyer – use the proper stuff! When working from photographs make A4 print-outs so that you see all the detail – but don’t copy it all! Add to and subtract from the scene to make more drama. Remember why you took it in the first place. Evoke those feelings in your drawing.By combining different drawing media you can both draw and paint, keeping your options open and your work progressing in exciting directions. These ruins are in an area of the Pennines I know well and I never tire of them. Returning to the same motif is never boring – connections become deeper, drawings become stronger and emotional responses to the subject are all the better for it.