How to mix 'willow charcoal' and 'compressed charcoal'?: Hibiscus Live Sketch

Hi friends! It has been really long, since I had written for you last (and sorry for that).

But guess what? Today, I am back with another interesting, live sketch (not pencil sketch, don’t worry, it’s a charcoal sketch).

Here it is, have a look:

Hibiscus: Charcoal Live Sketch

How I made it: As I always do, I began sketching the flower with a very light, and free-hand (it took me only about 2-3 minutes to completely sketch out the whole thing). Then I took a thick stick of ‘willow charcoal’ and started highlighting the darker portions where I couldn’t see light. After that, I took a soft tissue, and smudged all the charcoal, that I applied to the drawing sheet. Finally, for the ‘darkest’ areas, I took a compressed charcoal stick (Camlin one), and highlighted those areas with it.

Also, as you all must be wondering that what’s that brown color in my painting? So here’s the answer: it’s another kind of charcoal (well at least my teacher says so, however, on its box, it’s clearly written- “crayons”), so as I was saying, its name is- “Sudha Charcoal”.

This brown color ACTUALLY brings life to my otherwise dull painting, what say?

PRO Tip:

1.   To blend willow charcoal and compressed charcoal completely, overlap a layer of compressed charcoal on willow charcoal, or vice versa.

2.   Don’t try to smudge Sudha charcoal too much, because its not its basic character, unlike other charcoals, to get smudged easily; due to which, sometimes it may also result in the drawing sheet coming off.

3.   For the ‘dots’ in the bottom, near the stem, I used the soft tissue (the one I used earlier), and ‘dabbed’ it with from the sides, which already had charcoal stains on them.

Hope you creative design guys like it! You may please feel free to rate this sketch in comments below and also suggest your intelligent suggestions :)

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