Charcoal for a change

It is fun and motivating, if not challenging, to change media to stay fresh and enthusiastic about your artwork. I set myself a target this winter to experiment in a few different ways and one was to try charcoal to complete a drawing.

I felt a nice strong wildlife piece would lend itself well to charcoal and so I selected these two handsome male lions who were relaxed and waiting for the ladies to bring their next meal in.

The strong black mane on the older male was a delight to draw in charcoal and I enjoyed the looseness and softness that I could get by a bit of smudging, something I never do with graphite. I used a fine stick of vine charcoal and managed to achieve all the fine details with it as well as cover the larger areas.

'Strength of the Pride', charcoal on Arches aquarelle, 11" x 22", my own ref. photo.