Here’s a painterly approach to charcoal drawing. On a piece of tracing paper taped to a drawing board, I established a tone with vine charcoal and brushed it smooth with a soft rag. Then, without touching the surface with my hands, I drew the basic lines of the picture. I then lifted the light tones out with a kneaded eraser. You can also use a piece of white bread for erasing. That’s what they used in the old drawing academies. Finally I added the last dark accents with a charcoal pencil. The surface is very fragile. Even the fixative left white dots along the top, and a couple of stray fingerprints are visible at right.
(Needless to say, but this drawing is by James Gurney)
6 comments:
Beautiful.
It reminds me of an elegant Edwardian lady.
Great work!
I like that you've depicted different surfaces and textures so well. From the metallic feel of the earing to the soft skin of the neck, from the fuzziness of the turtleneck to the solidity of the check bone. Fun to look at.
Simple and beautiful!
hello janette,
i've always been curious, what does james do with all these original works? seems like he has hundreds and hundreds? are most framed and on the walls...?
my fear is that they are all in drawers or packed away....NOOOoooooo haha, but i'm sure they are well preserved if they are packed away, which is good, so other generations ahead can see them too...
This is from The Artists guide to sketching. Wow, it's cool you two have kept it for so long.
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