Charcoal?

[funkO_snacK]

Is this good for a newbie like me?

[rimwalker]

It doesn't taste very good if that's what you mean.

But if you want to try using charcoal to draw... I say go for it!
Did you have other, more specific questions regarding charcoal that you'd like answered?

[funkO_snacK]

sure, is it good for sketching? that's what im shooting for is sketching

[rimwalker]

Yes it is, it's a great tool for sketching. We used it a lot in my drawing and figure drawing classes to sketch. I found a tutorial that might provide a little more info:
http://www.whatpainting.com/tutorials/L_P_2/tut1.htm

[Deth Jester]

Yeah, first try using vine charcoal or willow charcoal and one of those grey puddy erasers.. You will find that type of charcoal more forgiving and easier to erase... If you start getting the hang of it and want something a little darker, but harder to control you can give compressed charcoal a shot... I also recomend buying some black board and getting white conte... and actually instead of shading in shadow shading highlight.. its good practice. You might also want to get a blending stump to use instead of your finger.. they help a ton.. You could also try different earth toned conte for fun..

good luck..

peace.

example of white charcoal on black board done by Daarken...

http://www.daarken.com/FlashPage/life/eve.jpg

[franz]

Thanks for the link, good read! I might just try my hand at this again.. although I usually find charcoal to be very very messy. :( I've always admired people who mastered this medium, there's charcoal pictures with downright amazing tonal range out there.. :eek: