Graphite vs Charcoal vs Conte

Some artists tend to quickly find their preferred tools for their art. Others like to experiment.

GRAPHITE
graphite glides on paper easily, rarely catches which is big for me. I think the wooden ones suck because they get eaten easily by a pencil sharpener. The woodless graphites are my favorites, I prefer the slightly heavier feel it has in my hand compared to wooden pencils. Most importantly to me though is that it is easy to erase. The downside is that it can sometimes be difficult to achieve really dark strokes. But that is fixed with the next medium.

CHARCOAL
Charcoal is good for going over lines laid down by the graphite. This way I can darker lines. I don't like to sketch out a drawing or anything else for charcoal. Its messy and its loud and gets caught on the paper constantly. So basically I like charcoal when it is used with graphite to go over lines I really want to darken.

CONTE
This stuff is stupid. I don't care that other artists use it with success, because I can't. It's awkward, its wasteful since you constantly have to break off the tips, its pointless. I can hardly control it on paper. Caveman drew with sticks on the walls but now its the 21st century and I'll stick with more modern tools. The only thing I have found conte good for is to add value then go over with a blending stick, the result usually is pretty smooth. But for drawing straight or hard lines, conte blows it hard.

Plant Drawing

Blind Contour

Ruler Drawing of a blanket pinned to the wall

Charcoal leaves a mark even if I touch the paper lightly. Oh well I guess I will get used to it. 

I love this wood carving of an asian dragon. 

Zak Smith - line sickness

This line work is ballistic. His sketchbook is unreal. Brought to you by Zak Smith

1 2 3

1 point perspective

intensely vibrant paintings by Leoniv Afremov

2 point perspective

cityscapes drawn from memory by Stephen Wiltshire

3 point perspective

 M.C. Escher doing his thang

Vertical Lines - Assignment 1

©2009-2010 ~FotoLover14 - Deviantart

So i just spent the evening drawing a few thousand lines.

I've never sharpened a pencil so many times in my life.

One thing I enjoyed practicing was applying varying amounts of pressure to discover different types of lines I could achieve with a 4b and 6b pencil. I figure with more practice I will be able to visualize a line just by knowing how hard I press on paper.