I’ve been working on this drawing for three weeks now. Every one of us is in the same boat, sight-sizing a drawing from a plaster cast. Finally, this week, I felt comfortable enough with my measurements to put in some lines and move forward.
My measuring skills continue to improve. What I haven’t done yet is the value scale for this drawing. That will be the first thing I do next Thursday when I get to class.
Over time, as you learn a new skill, you also become familiar with different or better materials. Now that I’ve been working with charcoal and cursing it’s mother in as many languages as I can think of (thankfully not many…) I finally found a working charcoal called Nitram that is AMAZING. https://nitramcharcoal.com/ It is used in place of vine charcoal. I was curious what the big deal was, and it is a big deal.
- It is much easier to use
- Doesn’t break easily
- Lasts a lot longer
- Erases just as well as vine
- Smudges with the best of them
- Much LESS MESSY
- Doesn’t need to be sharpened to a point
This is where you see me doing the Snoopy happy dance! I just might be a charcoal convert, but the jury is still out. Perhaps I’m just being stubborn! Nitram is available from different art supply stores as well as Amazon. If you haven’t tried it, do! It is a life-changing drawing tool.