Prismacolor manufactures such a wide range of quality discount art supplies, I recommend artists of all levels use them. Unfortunately, it is really hard to find Prismacolor Charcoal Pencils, outside of a kit Last year I decided that I needed to improve my drawing and needed to study with master artists. I took two graduate level drawing classes at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The classes I took were chiaroscuro (light from dark) and figure drawing. For my chiaroscuro class, I studied with the master artist, Zheng Fu Lu. In order to accomplish this, it was suggested that we buy , ,
His technique of teaching was fabulous and I learned a great deal from him. In the beginning of our class, we drew one or two objects, but as the class progressed, we were drawing complicated still life drawings of 11 or more objects. Zheng Fu’s objective was to teach us value, proportion, accuracy, and design. For me, the design was the most challenging. This was especially so when we got into complicated still life drawing. He taught us about cropping, overlapping, and how negative space and position effect the value of a drawing. For instance, if I drew an object that was spaced three inches away from another, it was visually pleasing not to space another object next to it at the same distance. In a way, it became a challenge of architecture on the picture plane. The same design problem occurred with two or more objects of the same size. We were taught that the size of an object should not equal the size of the negative space near it. Similarly, objects of varying size were encouraged, as were shape and texture. In my drawings I made sure to use objects of different textures, such as paper, wood, metal, and organic such as fruit. Students who drew toys were discouraged, as they took on a cartoon like appearance.

Our class was challenged with making realistic replications of life. Since our goal was to learn value, we were not allowed to use any of my Prismacolor colored pencils – only charcoal pencils. While I had hoped to use Prismacolor charcoal pencils, I couldn’t find any, so most of the time I used Generals Charcoal Pencils. For beginning the sketch, all of my teachers recommended that we start with a number 4B pencils, because it is easier to erase than harder pencils that make an impression in the paper. Softer charcoal pencils are also difficult to erase, because they seem to soak into the paper. are little harder than the 4B, so it’s helpful to use these when contrasting value.

If you are starting out, you may want to get a pack of charcoal pencils, but know that they do not last long. However, it will introduce you to charcoal and the different consistency of each value. However, if you notice, this pack only contains one number 4B pencil. If you are taking a class, I strongly urge you to get at least 3 boxes of Actually, a better kit to start off with is , which includes a sandpaper pad to sharpen the charcoal pencils, a sharpener, and an eraser. That said, once you become a real art student, you will see that artists use a utility or box knife knife to shave the wood from the pencil – about 2 inches and then sand it down on a sandpaper covered wooden block.