Portrait of Jeanette

Here’s a painterly approach to charcoal drawing. On a piece of tracing paper taped to a drawing board, I established a tone with vine charcoal and brushed it smooth with a soft rag. Then, without touching the surface with my hands, I drew the basic lines of the picture. I then lifted the light tones out with a kneaded eraser. You can also use a piece of white bread for erasing. That’s what they used in the old drawing academies. Finally I added the last dark accents with a charcoal pencil. The surface is very fragile. Even the fixative left white dots along the top, and a couple of stray fingerprints are visible at right.
(Needless to say, but this drawing is by James Gurney)