Charcoal drawing is as old as the discovery of fire. Since primitive man sat around campfires, charring sticks and drawing on flat stones and walls, mankind has been practicing the art of charcoal drawing!

Today, charcoal is still made the same way: vine, willow and other twigs charred in hot ovens for use as drawing materials.

Charcoal drawings are richly expressive, yet because they are done only with black, white, and shades of grey, the artist must be trained to see natural colours as shades of various corresponding value. Hence, well-placed contrasts between light and dark are extremely important and can make or break a drawing.

Explore the expressive qualities of charcoal today and challenge your students to pay greater attention to tonal contrasts!

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