It's been awhile since I've posted any of my artistic attempts here, so I present to you all....Chelsey's attempts at charcoal drawing. (Part one. )

http://chelseylou.deviantart.com/art/Waiting-86938751

http://chelseylou.deviantart.com/art/Sexy-Radio-86938452

Both were freehanded (except for the seperating lines in the first) and drawn using only a reference picture (which is linked in the descriptions of each), a mechanical pencil, and charcoal stolen from the art room.

I know I'm not hard-core awesome at this, but I've gotten compliments on them before. So why not put it to the test of Matazone-er critiquing?

(while I'm on the topic, does anyone have any good tutorials/tips for how to shade hair? I cannot get it right.)

The 'Waiting' image works better than the 'Sexy Radio' one, mainly due to less dependence on outlines. Try and avoid using outlines if possible and instead go for creating areas of shade to show the distinctions between surfaces. There are some good examples of what I mean on this page:

http://www.iannaylor.co.uk/drawings_open.htm


Here's an interesting approach to charcoal drawing:

http://drawsketch.about.com/od/charcoal/ss...aldrawing_2.htm

You might want to stick to good quality black and white images for your inspiration rather than colour ones: images are composed differently if they are monochrome, and translating something that looks awesome in colour into black and white can often get only average results.

I'd also suggest drawing from life, rather than other people's images. It will be harder to begin with but I think it helps you improve faster in the long run.

As for drawing hair, have at look at some of these results:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&clien...nG=Search&meta=

(They're mostly blocked for me because I'm at work on my lunch break.)

Focus on the things that work better for you and work with them to improve your overall style. There's some good shading in the Waiting image so try more of that in your next images. Keep it up!

They're good. But kinda reiterating what Mata said, try and use a lot more tone everywhere. Charcoal is really versatile when it comes to tonal work and a lot faster than pencil because it's so easy to smudge (although it helps to start from the top left hand corner to avoid smudging unintentionally... perhaps you already knew that?) But yeah, try to avoid having large areas of blank page and leave blank page only for the very highlights (and obviously, for example, on the wall in the mic image).

As for hair, I find it helps to forget that it's hair completely, because that encourages you just to draw a bunch of lines. Look at it both texturally and tonally, and it should help. Different people do it differently of course. I find that when using paint, cover the main hair area in just a smooth completely untextural layer but still slightly show where the hair is lighter and more reflective, then if you take a rejected brush (the kind that's huge and old and the hairs are all splayed and it's gone slightly hard) and dip it in a lighter tone then take this over the hair area to create the texture. Of course, using charcoal it will have to be smoother but you can still create texture using very contrasting tones next to each, and if you find an eraser, this will be most useful.

Ok awesome. They're really good. Keep going and show us more please?

Putty rubbers. Get one, they're great!

Ack sorry I thought I'd already replied to this!

thanks, guys.

I'm not finding any good tutorials there, Mata, but thanks anyway - I'm currently drawing a self-portrait in an attempt for more real-life things (since people interest me drawing-wise the most, and no one knows how to pose for me, like me. ) and also in an attempt for the hair. I'm horrible at not using outlines!

IATB - I'm in desperate need of a blending stick thingy - currently I am using my fingers to smudge, which leads to a huge mess on the drawings. As for hair, I've found it's easier for me to draw dark hair (as in black) than it is for light hair. Which isn't a solution, but is note-worthy.

also, I have a putty eraser! It saves my life, truely.

Hey guys, I've finally finished a new one, it's once again using a reference photo but I tried to not use as many lines (and more shading/tone) in this one.

Tell me what you think.

http://chelseylou.deviantart.com/art/Much-...alling-91201216

Cool! Those small changes have made a big improvement in the style.

Maybe next time experiment with some very light smudging in the shading on the cloth.

Alright, a bunch of new drawings and paintings.

These three were made with a combination of black acrylic paint, sharpie, and charcoal:



And then here's the self portrait I was talking about, made with mechanical pencil, paint, sharpie, water colors and a bit of charcoal:


Alright, praise them or rip them to shreds.