Liquid Charcoal Drawing

• 1 min. short (unboxing)
• 1 min. short (basic techniques)
• 1 min. short (comparing brands)

• 1 min. short (Sweeney Todd portrait)
• 92 min. video (Nitram)
• 74 min. video (Schmincke)

• Liquid charcoal appears to be like thick paint when you squirt it out, but once you add even just a bit of water it breaks down very quickly.
• The liquid charcoal is a lot more similar to painting with ink wash, it is runny and very thin.
• Liquid charcoal drawings will be fragile to the touch after drying, so they do require fixative to protect them.
• Some liquid charcoals can be erased after drying, but many are too inconsistent to make this a viable technique.
• The Schmincke grapeseed black was the one that erased the best, the Nitram didn’t eraser at all.
• The differences between the various colors of the Schmincke liquid charcoals were whether they were warm or cool blacks.
• The grapeseed was very cool (almost blue) while the peach stone, cherry pit, and Nitram liquid charcoal were warm blacks.

• Layering compressed charcoal and charcoal pencil over the liquid charcoal after it dried works very well.
• Using a paper towel to wipe away and lift areas of the liquid charcoal works very well.
• You can dip a paper towel into water, and easily lift the liquid charcoal.
• Using a big brush to push the liquid charcoal around can show very bold gestural brushwork.
• Using a stiff surface to draw on, or on watercolor paper or a watercolor block is ideal.
• I recommend starting with a vine charcoal sketch, followed by a quick pass of charcoal to ensure that you don’t lose your lines when you apply the charcoal pencil.
• Some of the Schmincke tubes can have inconsistency, if it comes out too runny, you may need to mix it up.

Art Supplies

• Nitram Fusains Liquid Charcoal
• Schmincke liquid charcoal
• Canson Mi-Tientes Board
• Charcoal pencils 
• Vine Charcoal 
• Kneaded eraser
• Generals Factis BM-2 Eraser Stick
• Art Alternatives Charcoal Sticks
• Charcoal pencils 
• Strathmore Charcoal Paper
• Staedtler Mars White Plastic Eraser
• Faber-Castell Dust-Free Erasers
• Paper towels
• Bristle Brushes