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Author: Mark_Reep, Contributing Editor
| Another of the reasons why I want to draw the moon’s outline as lightly as possible is simply that I may want to change it. Until I flip the template out of the way, I’m never sure if the result will be all I hoped. If not, I want to be able to erase it easily and completely. This will be the lightest passage of the drawing, and I won’t be able to cover up much here. Again, it’s about keeping my options open--and again, I’m happy I have, because when I flip the template back, I don’t like what I see. A little more to the right, I think… There. This works. |
 | 4) Now I’m ready to begin blocking in the sky with powdered charcoal. I powder charcoal by rubbing a soft or medium grade charcoal pencil on a clean piece of scrap paper. I hold the pencil at a shallow angle to the paper, and rub it back and forth as if I were sharpening the pencil--and actually, I am. By the time I’ve thoroughly blackened several square inches worth of paper, a scattering of loose particles of charcoal will have accumulated as well. Some are coarse, and will make marks I don’t want, so I pick up the paper by its edges, hold it over my wastebasket, and tilt the paper until any loose particles fall off. Working with this small an amount of charcoal produces little dust. But since I work close up, I usually wear a disposable dust mask while I’m powdering and applying charcoal, and refining a charcoal-covered surface.
I press a cotton ball into the charcoal rubbings, and rub the cotton ball back and forth to load it. Because I want to be able to apply the charcoal as lightly and uniformly as possible, coarse cotton doesn’t work well for me--the finer the cotton, the better. The first application of charcoal will be the darkest; each application that follows will be progressively lighter as more charcoal is transferred from the cotton to the paper. If I’m working on an evening or night sky, I’ll apply the charcoal full strength, beginning with the darkest area, which will often be at the top of the image. If I’m working on a lighter sky, or a light passage like the area near the the horizon, I’ll remove some of the charcoal first by rubbing the cotton ball lightly on scrap paper until the resulting smudges have lightened to the values I’m looking for. It’s a process not unlike drybrush--put a little on, take most of it back off, and begin. |
| I place the loaded cotton ball lightly against an area of the drawing that I want to darken, and brush the cotton ball lightly over the paper’s surface, using more or less circular, semi-random strokes that will blend easily. As when I’m penciling, I avoid pressing or rubbing hard. Smooth-surface paper is both ideal and necessary for the kind of look I want to achieve--but it has very little tooth, and I don’t want to burnish any away unnecessarily.
Because the moon’s edges will be its lightest areas, as well as the drawing’s brightest highlights, I want to keep the paper as clean as possible there, so I try to avoid getting charcoal inside the moon’s outline. Of course, this happens anyway, and because I’m applying it lightly, I’m not concerned--it’ll clean up with a kneaded eraser. In fact, much of the layer of charcoal I’ve applied may eventually be removed again, depending on how this sky evolves, and how satisfied I am with the results. I’ll lift out areas with a kneaded eraser to create clouds, mist, all the drawing’s highlights--so again, it’s essential that I apply the charcoal lightly enough so that it can be easily removed, or at least lightened considerably, as needed. But the less I have to clean up the lightest, and so most critical areas, the better. If I need to work in a tighter area, like those where the moon’s edges meet the horizon, I’ll switch to a Q-Tip to apply the charcoal. But since I’m envisioning mist obscuring at least the lower portion of the moon, I don’t need to darken those areas of this drawing. I consider this stage the equivalent of underpainting. My goal here is not to take this sky to any degree of finish, but simply to begin it, to establish a foundation to build on. If I’m feeling more painterly, I may choose to take a sky much farther with charcoal, adding layers with Q-Tips, refining them with kneaded erasers, before I pick up a pencil. But most often, I do most of the work in pencil. Admittedly, it’s not quick work. But usually, the result is worth the time and effort invested. |
 | 5) Here, I’ve evened the charcoal by lifting areas that are darker than I want with a kneaded eraser, as I described earlier. After lifting only a few marks, the charcoal I’ve removed from the paper will have coated the point I’ve shaped from the kneaded rubber, so I roll the eraser between my thumb and forefingers again, and shape a new point from an unused portion. This is a process I’ll repeat many times. To lift a wider area, I tap the point on clean paper several times to blunt and widen it.
Dirty erasers have their uses, too. A portion of an eraser that’s been partly coated with the charcoal it’s lifted will remove progressively less material each time it’s pressed into the paper. This is useful when I want to lighten a passage only a little. If I’m using a clean eraser, and I want to lighten a passage only slightly, I’ll tap the eraser into a charcoal or graphite smudge on scrap paper to dirty it first. Kneaded erasers are among the most useful and versatile tools I use. They can be molded into an endless variety of shapes and sizes, and the range of effects I can create with them are equally limitless. In the next steps, they’ll become as indispensable as my pencils. The layer of charcoal I’ve applied is a very light one, semi-transparent in places, and by now I’ve worked it enough so that it’s no longer easily smudged, and very stable. A light last rubbing with a clean cotton ball insures that no loose particles remain. A quick dusting, and I’m ready to begin penciling. |
 | 6) After several hours’ work, the sky has begun to take shape. I want the visible parts of the moon’s edges to be crisp but soft, so I’ve cleaned them up, and lightened the moon’s penciled outline as much as possible. The right side of the sky is taking on the tone I’m looking for, and mist is rising. There’s a long way to go. But I’m having fun.
A little more about the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils I use: Number 1 is the softest, and a good grade to begin developing the darker areas of the sky with. No. 2 and 2.5 are progressively less soft; and good for midtones. No. 3 is a bit harder, and will hold a sharp point longer. This is the grade I use for sketching, for lightly toning inked passages’ highlights, and for much finish work as well. No. 4 is the hardest, and will hold a very sharp point. I use this grade to smooth and soften surfaces and edges, finish bright highlights, and anywhere a delicate refinement is needed. I began developing this sky with a No. 1 pencil, assuming that at some point, as I usually do, I’d turn to progressively harder grades. But so far, I’ve felt no need to do so. In fact, this pencil’s working so well, I think I’ll stay with it as long as possible, and see how high a level of finish I can create with it. |
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