Drawing With Charcoal || Kate Boucher

There have never been many books about charcoal. It’s almost invariably lumped in with other drawing media, and not unreasonably. The basic techniques, after all, can be applied to pencils, pastels, pen & ink and so on and it makes sense not to repeat these for each one.

For all that, a thorough study will not come amiss and, given that this will probably be a one-off for quite some time, it is to be hoped that Kate Boucher steps up to the mark. It is pleasing to report that she certainly does. This is no mere “make some marks and have done with it” overview and the quality of the artwork will have you wondering why you never realised before that quite such subtlety was possible. Charcoal is a monochrome medium that is difficult to persuade into half-tones or, by its soft nature, to produce fine detail.

Just a quick look at the illustrations here will show you that such things are by no means impossible and your first thought might be that you are actually looking at a book about monoprinting. Although there is discussion at the beginning about materials and mark-making, Kate assumes a reasonable degree of experience – you can, after all, get that from one of the many introductory guides to drawing that are available. Instead, through a series of demonstrations that are fully described and analysed, she explains the use of erasers, tone, layers of texture and the use of other materials – the introduction of pastels in the final chapter is genuinely shocking, albeit in a good way.

This is everything you’d hope it would be and probably more. I said there’s unlikely to be another book for quite some time but, frankly, there’s no need for one. Kate has nailed it.

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Charcoal || Richard Rochester

GMC’s occasional series of simple introductions to individual media lands on one that’s rarely covered on its own. Even as part of a more general survey of drawing media, charcoal often only gets a passing mention.

Why this is, is hard to say. True, it can be messy. True also, it can look a mess in unskilled hands. Pure black that can’t be easily diluted into a tone is tricky to master. It requires a lot of leavening with a light touch and generous use of the background support or additional materials. Keeping to the spirit of the single medium approach, Richard uses “white charcoal” which, while technically not that substance, nevertheless behaves like it.

The book is based around a series of demonstrations that cover a good range of subjects from still lifes to wildlife, figures, landscapes and seascapes. Each one requires a different technical approach and this is where you’ll learn the more detailed skills. As well as traditional sticks, Richard also works with compressed charcoal and charcoal pencils.

Even if you don’t think, at the end of it, that you’d want to work in charcoal on its own, you’ll nevertheless be impressed and surprised by its versatility and be ready – eager even – to incorporate it in your drawing armoury.

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