Quality Reverse Charcoal Drawings

Reverse charcoal drawing, also known as negative drawing or reductive drawing, is a resourceful, inventive process in which the artist first darkens, to some degree, an entire sheet of paper with charcoal then smudges and blends the pigmentation to a smooth, even gray. From this stage, application of eraser is used to create or define primary shapes and images. The highlights and “lit” aspects of the composition emerge as dominant, creating a striking, potentially realisitc interplay between lgith and shadow. Darker, defining outlines and values can then be added with charcoal. In reductive work, the process of charcoal drawing can reverse course entirely, allowing for a novel texture treatment. Effects of light and shadow in are obtained easily and quite naturally, and the treatment of tone and value becomes an exercise in opposites.