Realistic Charcoal Drawing for Beginners

How to Recreate a Realistic Landscape in Charcoal from a Photograph

The skills you will gain in this class:

• How to draw a simple scene with charcoal
• How to apply and manipulate charcoal
• How to create textures in charcoal
• Applying graphite to represent different values (lightness and darkness)
• Measuring methods
• Improving drawing accuracy

This course teaches a nice balance of the mechanics involved with making a beautiful landscape drawing in charcoal, but also having an interpretive, artistic mindset while doing it.  It discusses what to focus on, embrace and likewise, abandon as you’re drawing.  We will explore how to find the “art” in art-making, how to understand and effectively utilize some basic techniques, but be guided by the spirit of your subject.  It is meant for the complete novice equipped with basic art materials.  It is also meant to be a concise, efficient class that offers lots of great information in a small amount of time.

This is a great course if you want to learn measuring techniques for more accuracy in your drawing, or if you've ever been frustrated with charcoal and want to acquire skills to make it smoother and more fun.

You will be carefully supported and guided through the entire process, from discussing which materials you will need, onto accurate measuring in order to replicate the image realistically.  From there we will walk through how to add value including shading. When we are finished, you will walk away with a new set of skills you can use to create more beautiful drawings.

I hope you enjoy the course!

• 1.1 Charcoal Trailer
• 2.1 Setup
• 2.2 Materials
• 2.3 Mindset
• 2.4 Blend
• 3.1 Measure Intro
• 3.2 connect
• 3.3 Measuring Practice
• 3.4 Background
• 3.5 Island
• 4.1 Boat Outline
• 4.2 Boat Reflection
• 4.3 Boat Slats
• 4.4 Boat Details
• 4.5 More Boat Details
• 5.1 Shading Overall Tone
• 5.2 Shading Sky
• 5.3 Shading Water
• 5.4 Shading Clouds
• 5.5 Shading Mountains
• 5.6 Shading Island
• 5.7 Shading Water Highlight
• 5.8 Shading Boat Reflection
• 5.9 Shading Boat
• 6.1 Refining Darks
• 6.2 Erasing Highlights
• 6.3 Sharpening Edges
• 6.4 Chain Signature
• 6.5 Final Thoughts
• 6.6 Spray Fix
• 7.1 Recap