Pencil, Charcoal & Pastels: A Guide PDF

# Pencil 1. A pencil is a writing or drawing tool, constructed of solid pigment core, that is encased in a protective housing or sleeve made of wood. 2. Most pencil cores are made of graphite powder mixed with a clay binder. 3. Graphite pencils are traditionally known as "lead pencils"; produce gre...

# Pencil 1. A pencil is a writing or drawing tool, constructed of solid pigment core, that is encased in a protective housing or sleeve made of wood. 2. Most pencil cores are made of graphite powder mixed with a clay binder. 3. Graphite pencils are traditionally known as "lead pencils"; produce grey or black marks that are easily erased. 4. Solid graphite has excellent mark-making characteristics. 5. Graphite is a form of natural carbon, created like coal, by the pressure of the earth. 6. Graphite is crumbly therefore not suitable for direct use as a drawing medium. 7. Earlier pieces of graphite wrapped in sheepskin were used as a drawing medium. ## Pencil Technique 1. Pencil is permanent and adjustable drawing medium. 2. The artists have enormous control over the pencil line since it can be reworked, erased. 3. It can have a soft velvety quantity or a crisp sharpness and on the other hand can achieve great boldness. 4. With pencil artist is capable of achieving fine and delicacy. 5. Pencil is economical, efficient and tidy medium. 6. There are several methods of building up the appearance of tone in pencil drawing. 7. The technique relies on the quality and nature of the support or paper used. 8. The most popular and effective technique are hatching, cross-hatching, stumping and stippling. # History of Pencil 1. The word Pencil is derived from "Pincel" in old French which means "small paint brush." The word itself came from the Latin word "Penicillus" meaning "Little tail." 2. Manufacturing of wood for pencils started b/w 1600 or late 17th century. 3. In early days pencils were made from graphite sawn into thin sheets or sticks. These were encased in square timber ansing. Then this square timber was rounded by hand. 4. In the 18th century, a French chemist, N.J. Conté discovered a method of mixing graphite with clay and firing it at high temperature. # Process of Making Pencils 1. Graphite is micronised to very fine powder before being supplied to a pencil manufacturer. 2. The degree of hardness and softness of the pencil lead depends on the proportion of clay to graphite used. 3. the clay has 2 functions: to hold the mix together before it is fired and once fired it acts as rigid matrix to hold the graphite in place. 4. The clay in pencil leads are ball clay from various deposits. 5. The clay is mixed with water to make it into slurry and charged into a ball mill that grinds down the particle size of the graphite and provides a mixture compound. 6. The water is removed by evaporation resulting in graphite clay solids called "cake". 7. The cake is grounded into fine powder and a known amount of water is added and the solid mass is hammered into cylindrical of about 15 inches [37.5 cm] long and 6 or 7 inches (15 or 17 cm) diameter. 8. A vacuum pressure system sucks the remaining air out and press from which the material gets squeezed out like a spagetti in a die head. 9. The material is chopped into lead length and dried to remove water. 10. The structure now has no. of holes previously occupied by the water. 11. At this stage, the lead is too sludgy to write with, so they are mixed with molten wax and then tore wooden casing is done over the lead. 12. Pencils come in a standard size 7 inches [17.5 cm] length but the shape and diameter of the lead and outer casing is different. 13. Apart from that, rectangular, carpenter style pencils are usually hexagonal or round. # All-Purpose Pencil 1. The all-purpose wax pencil was originally designed for marking plastic, china, metal or glass surface that could not be marked with a normal pencil. 2. It is always good for marking photographic contact sheets or strips of color transparency in plastic wallets. 3. Apart from all this, all-purpose pencil is also an original and effective drawing instrument and can be used to put effects on paper. 4. These pencils are rich in wax with small amounts of filler and high pigments; the wax gives soft almost sticky touch on paper and it can be used to make soft tones, deep tones or many other varieties. 5. The effect is similar to oil pastels and can be used for overlaid and scraped off effects and sharp effects. It is more priced as compared to normal pencils. # Colored Pencil 1. Colored pencils are manufactured in the same way as graphite ones, except that the leads are not fired in a kiln as it would destroy the pigments. 2. The mixture comprises of pigments, a filler like chalk, talcum or kaolin and a binding material usually a cellulose gum like hydroxl-propyl methylcellulose. 3. As the graphite pencils, pigment particles are immersed in molten wax to give them drawing properties. 4. These pencils can produce a broad range of effects from soft light toned, sketching to highly resolved drawing with full ranges of tones. 5. There are several different ways of using them to apply color to paper, these include both wet and dry methods of application. # Charcoal 1. Charcoal is one of the oldest drawing material produced by firing willow or other wood or coal at high temperature in an airtight container. 2. The carbon from the wood leaves each stick of coal ready to use as a drawing medium. 3. These charcoals are often used by artists for their versatile properties such as its rough texture that leaves marks less permanent that other- visual art medium. 4. Charcoals can produce lines that are very light or intentionally black while being hard to remove completely. 5. The dry medium can be applied to almost any surface from smooth to rough. 6. Fixatives are used for charcoal drawings to solidify or to prevent erasing or rubbing off the charcoal dust. 7. Charcoal is used as an expressive medium in its own rights. Many artists use charcoal because of it's unique dark black strokes. 8. Throughout western art history every artist has used charcoal for sketching or primary medium for their paintings. ## History of Charcoal 1. Charcoal was often a key component of cave paintings with examples dating back to 28000 years ago. 2. One of the oldest charcoal printing is a picture of zebra found at Apollo Cave in Namibia. 3. In Renaissance, charcoal was widely used but few works of art survived due to charcoal particles flaking off the canvas. 4. At the end of the 15th century, a process of submerging the drawing in a gun bath was implemented to prevent the charcoal from flaking away. 5. Charcoal paintings date as far back as 23000 BC. Since then many cultures have utilized charcoal as a painting medium. 6. Charcoal was used as a means of drawing out images for panel painting or frescoes. 7. Now also, it is considered a suitable medium for drawing. 8. The Renaissance artists found charcoal very useful because they could easily modify the printing during the process by erasing the particles using feathers. 9. Once the drawing was satisfactory, it was worked over with brushpen and remaining charcoal was brushed away. ## Making of Artist Charcoal: 1. Stems of plants like willow, vine and other twigs are used for making charcoal for artists. 2. Out of all these plants, willow is used more for this purpose. 3. Willow for artists' charcoal is grown in organized plantation and harvested annually. 4. During the winter months, once the cut willow crops have been sorted, they are bundled into heaps and boiled in water for 9 hours to soften the barks. 5. This is then stripped off in a revolving machine and then put for drying in open air. 6. Then the sticks are tied into bundles and sawn into standard lengths and put into iron binding boxes. 7. The boxes are filled with sand on a vibrating table to prevent air getting to them. 8. The sticks are then reheated to remove extra moisture. During reheating, the sand takes the empty spaces. 9. Then, the sticks are fired in a kiln for several hours at high temperature, 24 hours later, they are good enough to be packed. # Different Forms of Charcoal 1. Charcoal comes in various forms and is made from different kinds of woods. 2. There are 3 main kinds of Charcoal: - Powdered Charcoal - Compressed Charcoal - Willow or Vine Charcoal ## Compressed Charcoal 1. It is made of powdered charcoal held together with a binder of gum or wax. 2. They come in a range of softness based on the ratio of powdered charcoal to binder. 3. It is harder than willow or vine and due to its hardness, compressed charcoal can be used for higher detailed drawing which makes it specially useful for drawing finer lines, textures and details. 4. Advantage of this charcoal includes generally more break resistance and sometimes blacker than willow or vine. 5. Disadvantage of this charcoal is that it can be discolored on any media you put on top of it. 6. Generally, it is harder to erase. # Powdered Charcoal 1. It is the most basic type of charcoal because it is the ingredient in Compressed Charcoal. 2. Powdered charcoal is best suited in toning large areas but also very messy. # Willow and Vine Charcoal 1. These are made from section of grape vine or willow branches which are burnt at high temperatures for harness. Because this kind of charcoal contains no binding agent, it can be erased more completely than compressed charcoal and works well to sketch out a composition on a canvas before using colors. 2. Willow and vine charcoals are often very soft and powdery and it can be less suitable for rendering crisp images. # Seal your Charcoal 1. Fixative is a clear liquid made with resin and berasine and sometimes with alcohol. 2. It is usually sprayed on to a dry media artworks. It preserves the final artwork from dust. 3. Regardless of the type of charcoal you choose to work with, its always important to preserve with fixative. 4. A number of fixatives can be used, however, no amount of fixative will ever make a charcoal drawing completely sandproof, as they still need to be protected with materials, such as frame under glass. 5. It can be recommended for artists not to blend charcoal with bare fingers, besides being very messy. The oil on the fingers can yellow the surface and darken your charcoal and create a less clean yellow surface. 6. So in charcoal work, fixatives must be used by artists. # Techniques of Charcoal: 1. Charcoal is a fast, direct and responsive drawing medium. 2. Charcoal gives a soft or strong quality of line, i.e. very expressive and impressive. 3. It reflects more confidence and less scare and hesitation. 4. The forcefulness of Charcoal shows the artist's intentions. 5. Fine and well-developed tonal effects can be created with charcoal in a variety of ways. 6. Charcoal blends itself beautifully through the use of grains of the paper for building tones. 7. It can be used on a plain paper, laid over grainy wood or sandpaper for other effects and textures. 8. Highlights can be picked out on charcoal with an eraser. Deep tones and softness of compressed charcoal is ideal for rendering tones. # Suitable Surfaces for Charcoal 1. Charcoal can be applied to just about any surface that will accept the mark. 2. The most common surface is paper. These papers include charcoal paper, pastel paper or watercolour paper. 3. Smooth surfaces are also acceptable and include newsprint, illustration board and hardboard. 4. Some artists prefer to work on a toned paper. When toned papers are used, both white and black charcoal are used in the drawing. Since the paper is toned, the white is absent and must be applied in charcoal form. # Pastels 1. Pastels are made by mixing dry artist pigments with water and binders and forming them into sticks, either by hands or by mechanical tools. 2. Its dusty look is what gives pastel work its particular character. 3. Pigments come from natural sources such as earth pigments or they can be produced synthetically in laboratories. Since pastel is a dry medium, the colors of pastels is the closest to pure colors of any of the painting medium. 4. Pastel has a long and wide history dating back to 1600 and today is enjoying a particular artist and collectors alike. 5. Many excellent artists around the world are using soft pastels as their primary painting medium. # Types of Pastels 1. There are several types of pastels, but 2 common types of pastels are: soft pastels and oil pastels. 2. Most common are large pastel sticks, which are referred to soft pastels. 3. The pastels have more pigments than binder, which makes them softer, often square sticks contain more binder than pigment and are referred to as hard pastels. 4. Many artists use both types together in their painting technique. 5. Oil pastels are very different than these dry pastels. They are made from beeswax, pigments and other chemicals and wax crayon like character. 6. They cannot be combined with soft or hard pastels, as that would create a dusty surface, creating a rough texture for drawing. 7. Oil pastels techniques are also quite different from techniques used in soft and hand pastels. # Ingredients: 1. Soft pastels are dry crayons made from powdered pigments, bound in a solution of gum or methyl cellulose. 2. They usually contain a preservative and some kinds of fungicide. 3. Wide range of soft pastels are supplied in different grades: hard, medium or soft; in different shapes: thin or flat, square or cylindrical. # Surface for Soft Pastels 1. Pastels can be used on many surfaces as long as there is sufficient grab or tooth to hold the pastel layer. 2. What surface an artist uses is a factor in the final look of pastel painting. 3. Surfaces can be categorized into 2: - There are fiber papers like those traditionally used in water, printmaking and drawing. - There are sanded papers where pastels are applied to the surface to help grip and paste. 4. Pastels can also be used on canvas as long as it is not too sticky. More layers of soft pastels can be built up on a sanded paper. 5. Sanded surfaces are probably the most popular surface used in today's time. 6. What is always important is that the surface is an archival permanent surface that will not discolour or fade over time. ## Soft Pastel Techniques - Scrumbling - Layering - Blending - Dusting - Crosshatching - Dragging - Hatching ## Soft Pastel Working Method 1. What characterises the soft work is its softness and richness of matte quality. 2. The strokes have a unique quality among the drawing media. 3. When soft pastels are drawn over a paper or other support with a degree of tooth, the pigments crumble and lodge in the fiber of paper, or in the surface coating. 4. A certain amount of pigment dust in the atmosphere on the floor and on the hand and clothes while working with pastels is easily visible. 5. Normally shading one color over another, rubbing with a paper produces a mixture of 2 colors. This is common pastel technique used by artists. # Fixative for Pastels: 1. Pastels are very easy to apply, but it also has a tendency to move on the paper or rub off if the paper is touched. 2. Spraying a light layer of fixative over your painting can help pastels to stay in place. 3. Fixatives are also useful to deepen your dark values. 4. Although, fixative are based of resin/alcohol/ammonia. Kerosene fixative are also available in the market that are different levels in soft pastels. 5. Fixatives for soft pastels are available in various formulations, including those based on resin, alcohol, ammonia, and kerosene. These different types of fixative offer varying levels of hold or permanence for soft pastels. # Framing and storage of Pastel artworks: 1. Every medium has its challenges and for pastels, framing can be expensive, pastels can be stored easily by framing them carefully. 2. Having a small surface is helpful in solving pastel pigments successfully. The best 2 ways to ensure pastel safety of pastel painting, is by framing the artwork behind the glass with the mat to separate the glass from the artwork. 3. If framed correctly, pastel will last a lifetime or more. # Oil Pastels 1. Oil Pastels are made from the mixture of many pigments like wax and animal fat. 2. Oil pastels are more similar to wax crayons than to soft pastels. 3. Being largely wax based, oil pastels do not undergo any of the changes during the dry process. 4. The materials remain distinct, but it is softened with a layer of white that either dissolves it or is exposed to intense heat causing it to melt. 5. The nature of oil pastels allows you to create effects that are different from other drawing materials. 6. However, it is vulnerable too, and is not recommended for a permanent artwork. 7. It would be more common to use this for design work for reproduction or as a primary material for drawing work. # Using Oil Pastels 1. The Oil Pastel surface can be manipulated in several different ways such as different texture and different sizes with separated effects. 2. Different colors are merged with each other, and reveal two different colour images. 3. Interesting color combinations can be created with subtle shading. Brushing the colors gives it a more effective look combining it with watercolour. Acrylic color exploits the wax remaining technique. 4. Oil pastel can be used directly in dry form. When done lightly, the resulting effects art similar to oil paints. 5. Heavy build ups can create an almost imparto effects. 6. Oil pastel pigments can be manipulated with brush, moisture, in white spread, turpentine, linseed oil, etc. 7. Oil pastels are considered a fast medium because they are easy to paint with, and convenient to carry. 8. Because oil pastels never dry out completely, they need to be protected somehow, often by applying a special fixative to the printing or placing the painting inside a frame. # Problems with Oil Pastels 1. There are some known durability problems faced with oil pastels. 2. As the oil doesn't dry, it keeps premelting on the papaer, the process degrades both the paper and colour layer, as it reduces the flexibility of the drawing or later. 3. Second problem is that the citric acid present in oil pastel makes the paper brittle. 4. Lastly, both the citric acid and wax are exposed. The wax can easily be made transparent again by gently polishing it with a wooden cloth; however, the combination of those 3 effects in a color layer composed mainly of brittle citric acid on top of the paper - a combination that will easily crumble. # Surface and Techniques 1. The surface chosen for oil pastels can have very dramatic effects on the final painting. 2. Papaer is a common surface for oil pastels, but this medium can be used on other surfaces including wood, metal, hardboard, canvas and glass. 3. Building up layers of colors with oil pastels called layering is a very common technique. Commonly available oil sketching papers are referred for oil pastel techniques. # Importance of Painting Methods and Materials: 1. Crucial aspects that come to the artist's mind are: - Ground or surface suitable for painting - Paint on mediums of painting - Technique of application of paint - Properties of painting material and medium - Technical knowledge of all art materials 2. Every individual in the art field should have a detailed knowledge of materials and their method of application. 3. Understanding different methods and materials is a valuable resource for artists and painters, as it includes practical knowledge of commonly accepted painting mediums. 4. This is also universal fact for the artist that some of the knowledge about the materials and their properties may come after one's own practice. 5. Despite all the guidance from art artists, understanding the nature of the materials used in painting remains crucial. Without a basic knowledge of how these materials work, an artist may struggle to fully develop and process in their work. 6. In the modern world, artists are mostly dependent on ready to use art materials, because of this, many artist do not know how their paints and associated materials are manufactured. 7. Knowledge of methods and materials provide information on all the aspects of art. 8. It adds more value to the artists' creativity by adding relevance and historical background in relation to use a pigment and suggestion on how to best use it. 9. Today, artists find themselves in a strange position of having available not only to the modern industry that makes pigments, but also have old form of hand-made mediums. 10. So far, the modern day artists have choices not just between different brands of paint, but also between hand-made paint and manufactured paint. 11. For this reason, properties of pigments and their variety of different binding agent must be known to artist. 12. Similar information is also needed in relation to working properties of binders such as resin, wax, gum and all other materials, commonly used in art artist's paint. # Different Medium and Surface for Painting Different types of paints are usually identified by the medium that the pigment is suspended or used in making paintings, which in general, working characteristic of the paint such as viscosity, easy dilution, drying sign, capability to discover, etc. - **Oil:** Oil paint is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with the medium of oil such as linseed oil which was widely used in early modern Europe. To preserve the painting, varnish or resin can be used that helps to protect painting from dust, humidity, etc. - **Pastel:** Pastel is a painting medium in the form of a stick of pure powdered pigment. The pigment used in pastel are same as those used to produce all colours in art media, including oil paints. The color effect of pastel is closer to natural dry pigment than any other process. Pastels are fast working medium. To preserve the pastel painting fixative can be used or by framing the artwork. - **Acrylic paints:** This is a fast drying paint containing pigment in acrylic polymer. It can be diluted with water but becomes water resistant when its dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted with water or modified with acrylic gel media, or paste, the finished acrylic painting, can resemble a watercolor or oil color painting. Acrylic paints have its own unique characteristics. Acrylic paints are the favorite medium of modern day artists. - **Watercolour:** It is a painting method, in which the paints are made with pigment suspended in water. The traditional and most common support for watercolor painting is paper with water supports, including fabric, leather, wood and canvases, etc. - **Ink:** These paintings are done with liquids that contain pigments and is used to color a surface to produce an image or drawings. Ink is used with a pen or brush. - **Spray paints:** It is a type of paint that comes in a sealed/packed container and releases a fine spray mist by pressing the top of the bottle's button. Spray painting leaves a smooth and flat surface. - **Tempera paint:** Its also known as egg-tempera, is a permanent, fast drying painting medium which contains natural pigments. Tempera painting are very long lasting. - **Enamels:** They are made by painting typically metal with powdered glass minerals, called colouroxide after firing the temperatures of 250°-850° Celcius. The result is a fused lamination of glass and metal. Unlike most painting techniques, the surface can be handled very easily. Enamels have traditionally being used for decoration or making murals on walls. - **Gauche:** These paints have waterbased pigments and other materials design to make use in an opaque painting method. Gauche differ form watercolour, in the particles are larger and the ratio of pigment to water is much higher. - **Fresco:** It is a mural painting which is done on plastered walls and ceilings. There are 3 types of painting: Buon, Fresco Secco and Fresco Mezzo. Many paintings painted on wall, or ceiling on a fresh or dry planter is called fresco. - **Digital Painting:** It is method of creating an art object digitally or a technique for making digital art in the computer as a technique, it refers to computer graphic software program that uses a virtual canvas and virtual painting without any art supply, like brush, pallete, paints etc. that can save the artist's time. # Surfaces - **Paper:** Cartridge Sheet, Handmade Sheet, Rice Paper, Ivory Sheet - **Canvas:** Synthetic, Natural (Board), Plyboard, Hardboard - **Walls and Ceilings** - **Fabrics:** Silk, Cotton