Charcoal for figure study

[Ian Barker]

I have a figure drawing class coming pretty soon and we're allowed to use whatever drawing tool we're most comfortable with, which for me is pencil. However I know that charcoal is a popular choice for figure study. I was wondering what are some of the advantages to charcoal vs pencils in this area? I've seen beautiful works in both mediums, but as far as learning process, does it matter which one I use?

[ajvenema]

im not an expert but i think it totally depends on what you want. If you work big i'd go for charcoal. If you work small, i'd say pencil. thats what i do at least.

[RyerOrdStar]

You can use both. Cleanup with a charcoal pencil but start with charcoal (or conte which is what I used, though I preferred charcoal).

People use charcoal/conte because they can use the side of the stick and make large broad strokes to show an entire area in one value. Try doing that with a pencil and you'd be there all afternoon just shading in one hand. Pencil is fine for extremely long poses, but for a regular class the most you'll have is 2 hours and there's just too much to do to start with a pencil. People also have the tendency to start noodling away with pencils, so that they forget the overall figure and get caught up with details.

[JJacks]

My opinion is that charcoal is faster because of what RyerOrdStar said and it gives a broader range of value than a pencil. It also moves around more nicely on the paper.

Pencil is a difficult medium that I've yet to master. :)

[Crush]

Using charcoal instead of a graphite pencil will teach you to really control your lines a lot more, you have to be a lot lighter and more careful with it.

It also has the ability to go far darker than you can go with graphite, and without that horrible shiny look you get from pressing too hard with a regular pencil.

As others said, it's also a lot easier to smoothly cover large areas of paper with charcoal than it is with graphite. Charcoal pencils and vine/willow charcoal are a very nice mixture. You can use the vine/willow sticks to cover large areas of tone then go back in with the charcoal pencils to darken and sharpen areas.