Conte is compressed charcoal combined with wax that some people use in conjunction with charcoal, so we’ve tried to make those brushes have that particular kind of wetter, more permanent look to it. This Charcoal Brush Set comes with 10 brushes: Standard, Streaky, Smeary Edge, Thick, Broad Side, Itty Bitty Grainy Piece, Large Grainy Piece, and a few that mimic Conte crayons: Old Conte, Wet Conte, and Melted Conte. No limits except the ones you want to impose on yourself. Of course, since this is the digital world, you can also break all the rules and draw in pink charcoal if you want. Turn your charcoal to white when you want to add highlights. You can use a smudge brush to remove your charcoal or blend the charcoal as you might do in the physical world with a kneaded eraser, blending stumps, or your finger. With SketchBook, you have the benefit of layers and erasers and Undo do-overs. You’ll be working almost exclusively with values, but one good thing about drawing digitally is that you can avoid having your sketch overwhelmed by blackness, which can be a problem with using real charcoal. You can do a still life if you want, but most charcoal drawings don’t get into the tiniest details, owing to how blunt these tools traditionally are. Subjects are often figure drawings or portraits, or even animals. Usually, it’s just pure sketching, with lots of shading and playing with values. Not too many people approach charcoal with the intent of creating a fully realized piece. Studies seem to be popular with charcoal. And you’ll probably end up with charcoal all over your hands, face, and clothes. One great thing about this week’s Charcoal Brush Set is that you get all kinds of control over the hardness or softness of your digital charcoal but with none of the mess. Compressed bars or charcoal pencils give you a bit more control, but drawing with charcoal is still a tricky technique to master. If you’ve ever done it, even with the mess you know how satisfying it can be to take something as raw and tactile as a charred piece of willow or grapevine and make art with it.
Note: This blog post and brush set was originally created by Michelle Li at Autodesk.ĭrawing with charcoal can be messy.