It was about 2pm and i was looking at the work that i had done two days back and it was a real mess. The shades under the eyes were too dark, the nose had its own darker shade and the lips were moved to the left. I also noticed that the left eye was a little lower than the right.
Now you should know the problems i faced using charcoal from :
so here i was totally lost. The female in the video was pissing me off even more, by then she had completed most of the features. I also noticed that some of the charcoal had smudged out of the sketching area.
Lesson 1 : Finish the entire work in a single session and apply the fixative (Recommended). If it happens that you have to work in sessions there is something called the bakery paper which you can use to save the art from smudging. You must have seen it in bakeries, they use it to cover cakes.
Lesson 2 : Clean you hands once in 30 minutes (and obviously before you start anything). My hands would become blackish of charcoal and the whole drawing area becomes dirty. You can also opt for a smudge guard (www.smudgeguard.com) to reduce the effects of smudging (As of now no idea where i can get it in India).
Lesson 3 : Place a sheet of paper under the page which you are currently doing and also use it to protect the previous one. Also use one to cover part of the art work while doing the other portions to avoid you hands touching them.
So i had only one option and it was to erase the left eye and also to slice up half the lips. So I did erase lots and then i felt something was finally working out. I cut the eraser in to pieces and started working on the places where i felt the tone was darker than i wanted. It worked out as it was easy to erase charcoal. And it gave a more blended look. Sharper pieces of eraser for more sharper edges and flat portions of eraser for blending.
Lesson 4 : Use white plastic eraser as its common among artists. Other erasers damage the paper and also leave the paper yellowish. Electric eraser are also available (not available in India though :-((( ).
Lesson 5 : You do more charcoal art work with eraser than you do with the charcoal pencil, compressed charcoal or charcoal sticks. Its an iterative process. First an attempt is made to bring the required effect or shade or shape using charcoal then the eraser is used to correct some portions and some effects come only out of the eraser and not through the pencil. You can always get a lighter tone by applying less pressure on the pencil and also by erasing. So two options you have. I would suggest to use both to get the effect.
Lesson 6 : Be always ready to erase 50% of what you have done. More than that, trash it and start fresh.
So now that i have learned that eraser plays an important part in charcoal art, i started to do the eyes and lips all over again. I started looking at the angles and proportions and found various places where i had sketched without even thinking. I remember myself being very meticulous with respect to proportions and angles long time ago. Damn me how much have i forgotten ?. So finished with the eyes the lips and the over all shape was now good.
Lesson 7 : Never forget Angles, Proportions and Tones. Double check and be sure you have gotten them right.
Hmmm plenty of lessons that i have learnt now and in general an artist has to be very patient, poised and very clear about what is required. One should always take as much time he wants to get the desired effect.
Lesson 8 : Frustration = Errors
Another thing that i forgot to mention is blending. Since the paper is rough the charcoal is not applied uniformly you need some thing to make all that shade appear blended together. This is where something called a Tortillon is used. I dont have it with me i use some thing similar to that. I figured out how to use ear buds to remove excess shade. It is also useful to apply mild tones in places where you need (Previously artists used to use their fingers for this purpose which is highly inefficient). Save them for your next piece of art. Will post a detailed illustration later.
Lesson 9 : Blend the shades together to make it look glossy and shiny.
As of now i am not fully equipped. Am still searching for rest of the charcoal art tools so will put a clear list of all items i have once i get them. Am like satisfied with the output thought is seldom looked like megan fox. Its like ok for first try.
To sum it up in one line. Apply charcoal every where and correct it with eraser.
Check the final result here :
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