https://archive.org/details/drawingsincharco00fowlrich/page/23/mode/1up Drawings in charcoal and crayon for the use of students and schools by Fowler, Frank, 1852-1910 This book covers the foundations of traditional charcoal drawing methods that artists like John Singer Sargent first learned when he was studying in France. Charcoal is an absolutely amazing medium to use. It’s basically just burnt wood, but with it “large and striking effects are so easily and quickly produced, while it is also adapted to the most careful work, and may be carried on to any degree of finish” My favorite way to use charcoal right now it to use soft vine charcoal(charcoal from burnt grape vines) and drawing large, rhythmic lines on large newsprint. Do check out this online pdf of this book if you’re interested in learning charcoal drawing. Let me know if you guys have any questions!

HELLO ALL, I’ve added a new category - insights. I added this because for me one of the post gratifying and fun parts of learning art is experiencing new realizations and insights about my painting mediums and about the reality in which I paint. As artists, we not only learns insights from others, but we also are tuned in to the world and we see and feel things that the average passerby overlooks. I’d like to hear about what you have learned recently during your artist’s journey! -post it in the ”insights” category

Yesterday I had the opportunity to make some sketches of some friends, and I had forgotten how truly difficult it is to draw portraits so today I went out and made some sketches of some landscapes and animals I saw like squirrels and birds, and then I sat down at a coffee shop and I copied some of Sergeants sketches . The major Takeaway that I got was how incredibly subtle you need to be when accurately portraying a portrait and that there’s a there’s a hierarchy of layers of lines as well, especially around the nose and eyes and mouth and lips where you can portray a lot of depth with just simple lines that are Intersecting each other and wrapping around each other . Share some of the drawings you’ve been working on!

I try to start the drawing paying attention to the large shapes, then the secondary shapes within those and finally the tertiary shapes within those secondary shapes. So the focus starts big, them medium, then small. But all the while, I’m also focusing on drawing the truest contours I can, so much that my eyes are fixed on the reference and I only look at my paper to determine where to start and end each contour.

When I began my journey as an artist back in 2019, I started with the basics. I bought a pack of pencils ranging from 6B all the way to 4H, and I started drawing from a book that contained photos of artworks and sculptures. I can’t recall what book it was, but this photo of a statue was in that book. When I started drawing, I didn’t really do it the “right” way. Usually, you start with the harder graphite and then make your way to the softer graphite, but I did the opposite because it made more sense to me that you would want to establish the lighter tones first and then slowly darken and chisel away the form. I really enjoyed doing that, and I probably spent eight hours on this drawing over the span of a few days, appreciating every little moment, angle, and element of form in the statue. Now, about seven years later, I’m at a point in my journey where I’m going back to the basics. I have a new mentor who is an amazing artist and is helping me reconnect with drawing again. It’s nice to have these photos of old drawings that I made with such little experience because I felt them in such a deep way while I was drawing them. When I look back at those drawings, I really enjoy them. I can’t really say that about a lot of the art I’ve made over the past seven years. Ninety percent of my art, I don’t even like looking at. I kind of enjoyed making it, but I think I lacked an appreciation of the subject and of the craft while I was creating it, so the pieces ended up feeling more like practice sketches. Now I’m doing a lot more drawing again, and it feels great. I love it. I love using charcoal and using my whole body to sketch lines and shapes onto newsprint. I’ve even been drawing on my walls because I have an 8-foot canvas that I really want to work up the courage to paint on, so I’ve just been drawing on the walls instead. Luckily, I have this mop thing that lets me clean most of the charcoal off, but let’s face it, I already parted ways with my security deposit with all the paint and dents I’ve left on the floor.