This is one of the better ways to learn about lighting, shadows, and reflection. As line drawing can expose the shape of an object it becomes difficult to render the shadows, reflections and transparency when starting out with lines in mind.
The only materials required for this type of drawing are:
- sheet of paper (preferably over 180 GSM)
- piece of willow charcoal
- and a standard eraser (non kneadable).
Starting with a piece of thick willow charcoal, rub it sideways over the paper to form a consistent blanket of darkness over the whole page.
Next use an eraser to lighten the area of your subject matter, at first you will only see a blob of white space. Although after a while the subject matter will begin to come through, once you get the outline and proportions of the subject matter correct it's time to move onto the lighting and shadows.
Best part of drawing with an eraser is that it feels as if you're sculpting something as opposed to line drawing where the boundaries of the image are very clearly defined. The concept of charcoal drawing is similar to negative space drawing, except for the fact that you're focus is still on the subject matter and not on the surrounding space.
Look carefully at the light and dark parts of your object and you can really make the thing "pop".
