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Charcoal or graphite? That's a question still asked today among artists. Today I'll like to give my opinion based on my experiences to give you the reader an idea of what works and maybe get your creative juices flowing :)
I'll be dealing on :
- Graphite as a medium
- Charcoal as a medium
- Similarities
- Pros and cons
Graphite as a medium.
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Graphite as a medium comes in various forms such as powder, stick, pencil etc. Graphite pencils in particular comes in various grades (grades meaning degrees of hardness of the pencil) ranging from H to HB to B. Each range works differently when drawing, softer grades for darker areas and vise versa.
With various shades techniques possible, it is common for students and aspiring artists to be one to smudge. Not discriminating, I smudge from time to time buy my reasons for mentioning it is that it is often abused. Smudging isn't a technique quite soothed for graphite so be advise.
I often advise getting a set of graphite pencils B grades in particular so as to familiarize oneself with shading based on softness of pencil.
Charcoal as a medium
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Charcoal come in different varieties such as power, vine or willow Charcoal, compressed Charcoal sticks, compressed charcoal pencils. Unlike graphite, charcoal has no H grades of pencils. But for light tones, vine and willow sticks come on handy.
Charcoal is powdery in nature thus needs fixative. Using the right paper here is key! Medium texture paper would do just fine.
Pros and cons
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Here I would be unbiased. Each medium has its pros and cons when using them. Charcoal needs a hands on approach to shading and the desired effect are easily spotted but in all is very messy. Charcoal covers a wide area when working whereas graphite shouldn't be advised for large drawings. Charcoal comes with smudge support and graphite doesn't ;)
conclusion
In summary graphite is quite cheap and inexpensive and easier to use but Charcoal offers a quick approach to drawing and forgoes the occasional light reflection when you need to take a photo of your awesome artwork!
*Thanks for reading, leaving an upvote and a
comment is appreciated, stay blessed! *
