I have created an easy to practice guide, demonstrating simple portrait steps for beginners. I love charcoal! Charcoal affords the artist the opportunity to sculpt with dust, by building layers of charcoal and then softening the lines with your fingertips. Massaging the dust into the contours of the facial features and removing the highlighted areas with a kneaded eraser, is for me almost a 3D experience - as I move the charcoal into the energy of my sitter.
I am a self-taught artist. I remember as a young child of six, being hungry for knowledge of how to bring my drawings to life in the manner of Beatrix Potter. I loved Peter Rabbit and the washed irregular brush strokes visible in her illustrations. As I grew older, at eight, I would marvel at the wrinkles, dark skin, and character lines of an African man my grandfather Peers, had sketched in charcoal and graphite, that hung proudly in our home. Thus began, my life long love affair with charcoal and it is my hope that you will fall in love with charcoal too!