What we’ll be doing

Returning to our lemon, we’re going to be using a very different drawing method that gives us much finer control in order to produce a more complete drawing.

In the live session, I’ll be introducing you to the method of layering with white chark and compressed charcoal.

We’ll begin by creating a simple – but accurate – Munsell-matched value scale.

Once I’ve demonstrated this, and hopefully you’ll have had a go at it too, I’ll begion drawing the lemon again, but this time using the new method and producing a fuller drawing.

This is the method I used to make the old iron and cloth drawing, it’s capable of great subtlety and refinement. It does take time, but that’s really the point. I won’t be able to complete the lemon drawing in teh live session, but I’ll be showing how to start it and beging laying in the main value areas. From there, you can refine it as much (or as little) as you like.

I’ll also be explainting about the how the light is behaving in relation to the modelling factors as we go.

What you’ll need

You’ll need your white chalk and compressed charcoal. We’ll be layering the two together. You can often get away with more textured paper with this method, since the paper is completely covered. But do check the paper you’re planning to use before the session to make sure that tit takes the chalk and chacoal well.

Please note: normal charcoal will not work for this method, it needs to be compressed charcoal (or black chalk) since it will then have a binder in it which helps with the layering.

You’ll also need your putty ruubber and sandpaper for sharpening. If you have a clutch pencil that fits your chalk and/or charcoal, that will help too. At least your fingers will get less messy 🙂

I’m expecting this session to be around two to three hours.

Reference photo

Click here to download the reference photo. (you will probably already have this, it’s the same on from the previous session)

If you prefer to print it out, make sure to select the option in your software that prints it actual size – it will be “100%” or “actual size” or something similar. It should print out 5 (height) x 7 inches.