A Flash of Carbon: Esmeralda's Figure Drawing

The Tools

As I practice my skills, the process of drawing is made so much easier by choosing the right materials as well as my understanding of how to use them.

I have a definite preference for my approach. My choice for figure drawing is the charcoal pencil. A tool I think of more as a specialized brush. Any type of edge can be applied using the pencil. It affords precision with a finely sharpened point. Sweeps of darker value can be softly laid out with the side. Within these parameters, the choices of good quality pencils becomes imperative. Mostly what I look for is a pencil that has a smooth consistent line (no rocks! in the lead mix), can be sharpened with a razor without snapping the point and dosn't crumble or dust up the drawing too much.

Among the brands of charcoals I alternately use:
Ritmo Art Alternative - HB's or B's
Rembrandt Lyra's Mittels in Med
These last one's I really like.
General's Med (2B)
Wolf Carbon's (6B)
Conte Charcoal Pencils

There are many more brands, but these are the current stock in my arsenal.

Steve Mumford

One of those wonderful chances where I found this war journal by accident. I am fascinated by this artist's life sketches and descriptions of a world so different and dangerous. I found it fascinating for his rich import of the day in the life of a soldier as well as the sadness of war torn conditions in the middle east.
Baghdad Journal

I have to mention an amazing Australian artist of last century who did this very same thing during WWII in the trenches of North Africa and New Guinea: Ivor Hele.