Charcoal Portraits from a Photo Reference

Experience Level: Beginner, no prior experience needed
Saturday April 1, 9am-4pm (1 session)
Ages 14+

Join us for this focused workshop with artist Suzann Beck, who will guide students through a process-oriented approach to drawing the portrait from start to finish using charcoal and white chalk on toned paper.

Please bring the following:
• Notebook and pen/pencil for taking notes.
• Soft Vine Charcoal
•Charcoal Pencils—Black and white. (A General’s pack that has 3 hardnesses, a white pencil and kneaded eraser is ideal for the workshop.)
• Kneaded Eraser
•Economical Sketching Paper (I recommend Strathmore sketching paper or similar, at least 14” x 18” notepad or similar).
•1 or 2 large sheets of tinted Strathmore Charcoal paper, Artagain Gotham Gray or Steel Gray, Strathmore Toned Gray in Mixed Media weight or similar for your final drawings.
• Masking tape or clips to secure your paper.
• A drawing board to attach your paper to (medium or large size).
• A 1” flat brush with natural hog bristles—the style you’d use to paint a wall.
• Pencil Sharpener.
• If possible, a grayscale/value finder to help you identify and duplicate shadow values.

Optional items, not needed for the workshop but fun to have.
• Chamois cloth for lifting/blending charcoal.
•A “triangular” eraser pen (used to erase sharper lines than is possible with a kneaded eraser). The eraser can be recut periodically with an exacto knife to create sharp edges on the eraser.
•Dry erase pad for soft erasing and cleaning up backgrounds (used in mechanical drawings)
.•A travel sketchbook and .07mm mechanical pencil and leads—used for sketching on the run.
• Any favorite drawing medium such as conte, sanguine, brown pencils, etc.