Today, having found the perfect reference photo to try it out, I attempted to emulate my friend Phoebe's unique combination of color and charcoal. It's hard to pull off to her expert level, however, not least of which is because she is a master shader with Carbothellos which, as far as I can tell, are like colored pencils but softer because they are "chalk-pastel." I have never liked the laborious process of shading and cross-hatching with any tool, much preferring to do minimal drawing and then jump straight to paint—and maybe outline with pen, depending on the style. But she has created such beautiful pieces using charcoal that I was persuaded to try it myself.
I think the first thing I should have done is chosen a paper with a smooth surface. I picked up my coldpress watercolor paper without thinking about it, but it has a pretty heavy tooth and a rough surface that shows up every stroke you make with charcoal, because of the highs and lows in the paper. Great for watercolor, not so much for pencils. I attempted to smooth shaded areas with paper towel, Q-tips, and my fingers, but with that paper I could only do so much, especially because I think the charcoal I was using was too hard. I did try to keep her from looking like the Bearded Lady...
For my color I used watercolor and inks rather than the Carbothellos, which worked well on some parts but not on others. I did get a nice velvety black with my India ink for her dress and portions of her hair, and used it as a little extra darkness where I wanted to obscure some poor charcoal shading. And I'm pretty happy with the reflections off that necklace. But my background is, as usual, a streaky mess that we're going to pretend are "draperies." Ha!
I'm going to call this a qualified success, and try another with smooth paper and softer charcoal sometime soon.
"Necklace Woman"—watercolors, charcoal and conté crayon, India ink, acrylic ink (background) and white gel pen, on 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.
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