Investigating Drawing

Detail from
Self-portrait by David Bomberg

Charcoal
Chalk and charcoal are the most basic of drawing materials, and used both to make sketches and finished works.

One of the oldest drawing materials, charcoal has great versatility and is often used for making spontaneous, large and bold drawings or for drawing out an image before painting. It is usually made from charred willow twigs and is also sold compressed into solid sticks. Charcoal is soft and fragile and can be used to give either a soft or strong quality of line, or alternatively smudged and dragged over the paper for textured effects and shading.

A selection of examples from the Gallery's collections

• Boris Karloff by Nicolai Fechin
• Self-portrait by David Bomberg

Next material

Go to a large print, text-only version of this site

All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 20 November 2008