PROJECT SKETCH FOR LESSON No.11. 11.01.2026

My first attempt at a subtraction sketch using charcoal. This extra lesson from Jerney came just at the right moment for me as I've been going through a slump in my creativity.

This was such a fun and very satisfying project even though the voice of perfectionism that lives in my head was having a screaming fit when I finally forced myself to put down my eraser after 35mins.

 

I learned so much from this simple but very effective lesson. One of the main lessons I learned was not to use a stick if chunky soft charcoal from my set of Cretacolor coloured charcoals to create the black page. It was pretty hard to lift from the paper with the putty eraser. I'll try my jar of charcoal powder next time.

As always a big thanks to Jerney for this inspiring & fun way of creating with charcoal. I really enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone with the materials & the subject. Portraits are something I'm interested in but I always feel way too uncomfortable when I think about trying one.....not anymore with this technique. Can't wait to try another one.

Scroll futher to see a close-up image and my other Jerney inspired projects.

 

FIRST PROJECTS FROM THIS CLASS 2025

Quite a handful of different techniques and methods to creating art with charcoal in this class.

This first image was done using charcoal powder and my fingers but then I started using my pencil, putty eraser, Tombow Eraser and blending stump to complete the portrait.

Materials: A4 copy paper - Charcoal Powder - Compressed Charcoal Stick

 

The second image is the end results of trying the different methods of holding and moving the pencil that was taught in the class. The shaky/twisty pencil method was my fave too.

Materials: A4 copy paper - Staedtler Charcoal Pencil (M)

 

Hoping to catch up with some more projects for this post soon :0)