Kawaii in Charcoal

Today I’m sharing a simple sketch I made using tanned paper and some charcoal and chalk or conté pencils.  I’ve used them before but not for quite a while.  I’ve been focussed so much on painting that I felt I needed to go back to the basics of simply sketching and practicing more on light and shade techniques.

I’ve got some toned tan paper by Strathmore which has a smooth surface, though it holds the charcoal and chalk quite well.  Whilst I could have used the sticks, I this time went for charcoal and chalk pencils.  Perhaps the next time I ought to use the sticks too.  The set from Cretacolor are quite good although it contains some graphic pencils which I avoided using.  Thus I used black charcoal, white chalk and brown and sepia conté.  Let’s see what Little One would look like:

So cute!  It shows that such classical drawing media work well with anime as well.  But I definitely need to work on my techniques more.  Perhaps as said earlier, use sticks rather than pencils as they are far more versatile and easier to use.  Pencils for small sharper details and sticks for colouring in.  And also I should not be afraid to blend where necessary… well here it is!  Still kawaii in charcoal though.