Charcoal drawing is timeless, stylish, atmospheric and arresting. In this easy-to-follow beginner's guide, readers are taken on a journey to explore the rich potential of monochrome using the medium of charcoal. Inexpensive and easy to source, charcoal is perfect for the beginner artist. To increase the variety of mark-making, or simply to make life easier, readers can choose to buy different types and sizes of charcoal, and tools such as blenders and brushes for different effects. This is all explained clearly so the reader can make informed choices. Following the section on tools and materials, the basic techniques are presented, showing how to exploit the medium to best effect. The fundamentals of drawing are also covered, including perspective, composition and observational drawing.
Charcoal is a versatile and dramatic medium with incredible potential for expression. This stunning book shows you how to create a drawing using its subtle, complex and bold qualities to best effect. Through step-by-step demonstrations and tasks, it explores the process, explaining how to capture a scene or the feeling of a scene, and, essentially, how best to fix an image to the page. With over 200 illustrations, this beautiful book is a compelling guide for everyone who wants to work with this elusive and powerful medium. Topics covered include: The basics of charcoal – explains the material, its qualities and ways of using it; Charcoal lenses – advises on how to choose interesting subjects with the use of photography and sketchbooks, and how to build a library of visual references; Mark making – includes techniques for complete beginners, as well as more advanced ideas for those hoping to develop and refine their work; Demonstrations – shows how to use the techniques and build a body of work; Soft pastel – suggests ways of combining charcoal with pastel to add colour to your work; Tasks and extensions – gives tips for trying and exploring ideas further to develop your own skills and to create a unique style to your work and finally: Protecting your work – advises on the key techniques used for fixing, photographing, storing and framing your work.
"Beginner Art Guides instruct in the fundamentals of art, then present a series of projects for the student to master. Projects are presented in order of difficulty, and are supplemented with practical suggestions, ideas for color experiments, and techniques for creating special effects. The final page of each book presents a capsule biography of a famous artist whose work offers classic examples of the title's central subject. This volume summarizes basic art principles for art students and ambitious amateurs, and then presents several dry-medium projects for them to complete. This title presents a brief, enlightening illustrated discussion of James Ensor (1860-1949), a Belgian artist particularly noted for his work in charcoal, chalk, and sanguine."--Publisher's website.
In a day when the fourth leading cause of death in America is due to adverse effects of properly prescribed drugs (Jounal of American Medical Association - July 2000), many are asking, "Are there not safer alternatives?" Yes there are!! Allow me to introduce to you one extraordinary yet simple natural remedy - Activated medicinal charcoal.Charcoal, What is it?We drink water filtered by it; breath are scrubbed with it; eat food purified through it; wear clothes made with it; preserve things in it; go to war with it; enjoy hundreds of dishes cooked by it; we move mountains with it; we make the night sky sparkle with it; grow our food and flowers in it; we take it with us to the bottom of the deepest oceans and out into space; swim in water washed with it; draw our inspirations with it; record man's history dipped in it: and then we call upon it to clean up many of our environmental mistakes. Not least and not last, medicinal charcoal plays an increasingly significant role in maintaining, restoring and enhancing man's level of health. No wonder we naturally warm up to it."I heartily recomment CharcoalRemedies.com The Complete Handbook of Medicinal Charcoal and It's Applications by author John Dinsley. As a physician, as a mother and grandmother, as a public health educator for the past 41 years, I have come to fully trust the efficacy and safety of charcoal as simple yet powerful home remedy. This book serves not only as a reference book of medicinal charcoal facts, but also brings together a hundred and fifty different charcoal experiences of individuals from around the world. People need this book. EVERY FAMILY, every healthcare worker, every traveler abroad, every health conscious individual needs a copy in their home library." --Agatha Thrast, MD (Co-founder Uchee Pines Institute. Medical Examiner for the State of Georgia)
If you want to learn how to draw with charcoal, then get "How To Draw With Charcoal" guide. “How to Draw With Charcoal” is a step by step manual on how to use charcoal as an art medium. This book covers several ways to use charcoal in different art genres. It will show you how to produce artwork of different styles, including portrait and illustration, and how to work on a caricature. All of this is shown in a step by step instructional manner so anyone can pick it up. - The book is written in a very understandable and “direct, to the point” approach, so you can easily pick up tips even just by skimming the book, but much better is to read the entire contents and learn to draw in a short period of time. - This informative book is also a brief guide for those artists who wish to explore charcoal drawing, and is even advisable for those who are just starting from scratch. It will teach you the “dos and don’ts” of drawing with charcoal, and what’s best is that this guide fits art styles of many kinds. - In here you will see how a simple framework sketch evolves into a drawing with shading right on up to realistic detailing. It shows you in detail how to apply patterns and what the proper process is to produce the exquisite type of drawing charcoal can achieve. About the Expert Adrian Sanqui is a charcoal artist who uses several themes but mostly avant garde and surreal cartoons. Being active in visual arts from an early age, he started with colored drawings using oil pastels until they failed to make the kind of artwork he wanted. From colors he shifted to black and white drawings. He first attempted to adopt the techniques he managed to learn from his experiences to ink drawing. Ink drawing still failed to meet his expectations. It was not until he tried using charcoals that he was satisfied. From then on he has used charcoal as his primary tool to produce a fine piece of art. HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.
A photographic exploration of charcoal as a medium. The images in the book fuse fashion and fine art in the form of seven unique character studies. Drawing on a variety of black and white photography techniques, these stories explore the themes of the body, sensuality, opposites, and time.
Whether you're an aspiring artist or new to the medium, seasoned instructor and accomplished artist Nathan Fowkes makes drawing portraits in charcoal not only accessible, but also a real pleasure! From stocking the best supplies to using them effectively, and composing a portrait while avoiding common mistakes, How to Draw Portraits in Charcoal by Nathan Fowkes will place you firmly on the path to producing the charcoal portraits you've dreamed of creating. His easy-to-follow tips, in-depth tutorials, and valuable exercises make this guide your first step toward building an understanding and appreciation for every face you draw. This handy book will equip you with the skills to capture them in beautiful charcoal fashion.
“A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.
