Applying Gesso to Paper

Here I apply the gesso to the paper with a crisscross motion of the hand until it is covered up to the edges of the masking tape.

Toning the Paper

Having ground the red pastel and charcoal into dust, I decided to use the same large bristle brush I used to apply the gesso, to spread the dust particles around. Although it may vaguely look like I know what I am doing, it is all rather haphazard, and my only real forethought and intention at this moment, is to roughly place the red dust within the general area of the face.

The Brush

Just a quick mention of the brush I use for the majority of the following work. It is a oil painting bristle brush, bought from "The Works" bookshop, and made by Crimson and Blake. It is possibly the cheapest brush you can buy, but the hairs seem to stay fixed (although the handle shed its thin veneer of paint within a day!), and it lends itself ideally to any messy charcoal particles and creating the sketchy textures that make up the shading of the face and hair.

Guidelines

I have always found straight lines easier to visualise and reproduce than a curved line. A prime example is when drawing an ellipse - if a box is drawn first, it is easier to then draw the ellipse to fit inside. With a piece of vine charcoal, I quickly mark a few guidelines denoting the major angles of the face and hair from which I can later build up the facial features. A tip I once learnt from Andrew Loomis' books, is that an idealised, proportionate face has these landmarks at equidistance from one another: hairline to eye line; eye line to base of nose; base of nose to bottom of chin. Obviously it is just a guide, but by using it as a guide, it is easier to draw a better proportioned face.

The Initial Block-in

I keep a jar of water beside me and periodically wet, or lightly moisten my brush. Doing so allows me to partially control the darkness of the charcoal. If the brush hairs are just slightly moist, they lend themselves to producing interesting textured lines, something that would take much longer to reproduce without the aid of a brush.

Although I build up the tones within a few layers, I try to place each stroke with a degree of accuracy. The worst thing you can do is overwork an area (sometimes called 'licking'). Quite a few of my strokes are 'feelers': the brush does not actual make contact with the paper, but by imagining the stroke (in a similar way that a snooker player visualises potting the next ball), I stand a better chance of placing it in the desired place.

I typically adopt a different approach to each sketch or painting I undertake. In the case of this portrait I liked the spontaneity of working on all areas at once, letting the unconscious mind roam free of the analytical. My intention from the outset is to give the portrait's eyes a little more attention and depth from the rest of the drawing, so that by the end, they subtly draw the viewers attention.

Block-in, First Stage

I use a combination of brush and vine charcoal to mark in the area of the eyes. You will notice that the edges are fairly hard and crude, but at this stage I am just trying to establish the general positioning. A great tip to learn is that good drawings/paintings have very few 'hard' edges, and many soft. By 'hard', I mean having a crisp, and distinct edge which the viewer's eyes will be immediately drawn towards. To loose some of this hardness, a few light strokes of the brush, or a little rubbing from a finger can soften and blend, though I don't recommend over doing it.

Once I darkened the eyes, they inevitable stole the attention, and so I quickly established some more darkened areas around the face in an attempt to balance the sketch.

Hightlights Through Erasing

This is where the small piece of t-shirt comes in handy. Wetting a piece of the material in my jar of water, I was glad to find that the red pastel could be removed without too much of a fight. I would imagine that the gesso underlayer helped in this respect.

Although areas of light and dark are easy enough to see in my small reference photo, squinting your eyes to see tone is an invaluable aid to visualising values.

Block-in, Second Stage

In this stage, I'm simply interested in increasing the tonal range, by establishing some darker areas.

Block-in Third Stage

On the third iteration, I try the conte pencil to add depth to the eyes, but then decide to switch to the vine charcoal. Again the eyes are still at a fairly crude stage with a number of unwanted hard edges. I balance these hard edges by drawing in several more across all areas of the face, with the intention of going darker still in the finishing stages so these edges are not so prominent.

Conclusions

This is the second charcoal portrait I have attempted almost predominantly with a brush, and I've found this method of approach not only so much cleaner on the hands, but the juicier thickness, and texture of strokes allows for rapid sketchwork and fine parallel lines that would be far more difficult and time consuming to attempt any other way.

There's some guess work in how wet to soak your brush before dipping it into the charcoal powder, but such guesstimations resolve themselves after a few strokes. When the brush dries the tone lightens, and you can create some interesting dry brush techniques.

I believe the same techniques applied to a more time consuming drawing, could yield in some excellent results - I hope to try it soon, and I hope I've inspired a few of you just enough to try your hand with these methods. A brush in your hand may feel very foreign and can be the difference between using chopsticks and a knife and fork. Some people will pick it up quicker than others, but with a little practice, anybody can easily wield a brush.