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Can drawing with charcoal dry out fingers?

When drawing with charcoal whats the best way to blend the natural features of the face?

  • I use my fingers sometimes or a make up sponge but you could still see all the lines and it doesn't look natural I'm an art student but I haven't reached the potrait part yet but I love drawing faces in my own time any tips would help.

  • Answer:

    Great question! There are a variety of things you can use. [do try not to breath the dust!] I was taught that in a pinch, use a used fabric softener sheet. [I used that today for my 18" x 24"pencil drawing.] You can experiment with anything that appeals to you such as: blending sticks, tissues, paper towels, pieces of clean chamois, t-shirt rags, etc. Do experiment with your tool[s] on an extra piece of paper to get the feel of the tool used. Do take your time and expore as it will be well worth it! Try to stay away from using those pretty fingers, keep hands clean so you don't put skin oils on your paper and have smudges to have to erase later. Keep nice plastic baggies for your charcoal 'smudgers' bec. the amt. of charcoal can go a long way. [also keeps messes to a minimum] You may wish to experiment with a 0.5 pencil and start smudging away, then graduate up to that charcoal to really have a good learning session! See how light you can make the tones and graduate up to nice and black. Begin learning the grid-system to do some sample portraits. [or whatever you choose as a study] Once you have the basic face-shapes done... now you are really going to use the blending lessons you've aquired to make a knock-out drawing with your newly learned skills! Best wishes and have fun in your class!

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Well, in my art class my art teacher taught us to let the charcoal do most of the blending. Just rough in where you want the shadows and whatnot and eventually the charcoal lines will disappear and will blend together. Or you could use a blending stump or your finger. Only use the stump for really small detailed areas though, it is a pain to do that on broad areas like on a face. When you use your finger, which is probably the best way to blend with charcoal, go in opposite direction with your finger than you did with the charcoal that way the charcoal won't just come off. Also, you have to stop using your finger after you put on a few layers of charcoal because it'll just start coming off and it will get annoying.When you get to that point just pat your finger on the area you want to blend, and it should work out. Hope that helped. :)

Dani

Have you tried a blending stick?? They can be purchased at your local art store.

Debra C

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