How does pencil differ from charcoal in drawing a portrait? I normally draw in charcoal but did this one in pencil almost by accident. It was a pleasure.
I have been doing a lot of charcoal portraits and I usually start my charcoal drawings with a rough sketch in a pencil; but this time I just keep on drawing in pencil. I had forgotten that it is softer and does not have the deep dark value that charcoal has.
PENCIL FEELS
Pencil feels more silky than charcoal. I know that is a strange thing to say, you would think that drawing is drawing no matter how you do it. I enjoy the experience of drawing; part of that experience is the reaction of the pencil to the paper I am drawing on. I come to expect a grinding effect of the charcoal on the paper. It was refreshing to draw in pencil.
I found I needed to keep changing the value of the pencil. I started with an hb pencil and had to go to a softer and darker pencil and finally had to go to darker, softer pencil like a 4b to get the dark I wanted, but it was not as dark as a charcoal.
BLENDING
I used a blending stub just a little to soften the tone, Because of the finer graphite medium I felt the stub was moving too much medium on the page but it was easy to lift out with my kneaded erasure. Afterward I ended going back over the blended area with a pencil again to restore the values and texture.
DETAIL LINES
The pencil was better to get the fine lines. You can get fine lines with charcoal but it takes a lot of discipline and you have to maintain the point with an obsession.
This was a quick study I did it while waiting in for my kid.
Anyone can draw a pretty face of a young beauty but to draw a happy old man with the character of a life well lived- now that takes talent!
Please see the tab for pricing options to commission your own portrait in charcoal.