Pencil, crayon and charcoal, ideal for paintings

by Tissa Hewavitharane

Pencils, crayons and charcoal are easy to work with partly because of the multitude of colours and tones available. They also have a great variety of strength. Pencils have a range from delicacy of F (a draughtsman's pencils) to the heaviness of all or even E.

Charcoal and carbon come in great big thick pieces or fine sticks. Crayons and carbon also come in great big pieces or fine sticks. Crayons can be hard, soft or waxy and some are even water soluble.

Edgar Degas

The fluidity and the best results of your drawing will depend on the paper you use.

A fine hard pencil will ripple and jump over a heavily textured surface, but will produce a fine line on a smooth paper. You have to choose both pencil and paper according to the final painting you want to create.

Shape

When you have decided on the pencil you want, try to get the right shape. Make experiments by holding the pencil on its point or side or at a slant. Each position creates a different mark. To emphasise thin lines use the point, but to get a broader stroke, you can use an eraser or putty rubber.

There are various drawing paper to give different effects and techniques in pencil drawing as well as crayon.

Working on cartridge drawing paper the flow of the pencil and the broadness will show the effects of shading without much effort.

Any drawing done on sketchbook paper using a 2B pencil gives a pattern and a texture of the whole drawing. To strengthen its strokes perhaps it would be necessary to use a 48 or a 6B pencil.

The drawing done of Diana Edgar Degas on crayon observe the hat's shadow across and Degas' face almost suggests a reluctance to portray his own image.The hat has been used here to convey a sense of self-possession. The shape of the hat in this picture is balanced by the line of the chin and the head. The shape of the mouth forms a vital part of the structure of this image.

Observant

The picture has been built with strong textures that create the appearance of looking observant. The facial expression is not lost because the dark tones provides a strong focal point. Sri Lanka has been proud of producing creative artists who work in different mediums. One of the greatest of them was none other than Sarashwathi Rockwood who was reputed for her work in pastel crayon and charcoal.

A black and white charcoal drawing of Mudliyar A.C.G.S. Amarasekera is hung permanently in the National Art Gallery, Colombo. She was very fond of nature and the environment. She produced a calendar for 2011 titled 'Trees' in black and white charcoal sketches of various trees in Sri Lanka.

I interviewed her before she passed away a few months ago. The portrait done by crayon on Edgar Degas shows light and colour. You don't always have to do a perfectly finished drawing, and it can be exciting just to concentrate on light. Manipulating light and understanding colour are important. The strength of colour gives the painting a secret quality.