Today I did a self-portrait in charcoal with a single point light source. I’ve been following along with Nathan Fowkes’ Schoolism course on portraits in charcoal. The first version was my initial attempt, but after watching feedback videos for previous students of the course, I realized that I’d done it incorrectly.
The human eye can perceive a wider range of values than drawing mediums can achieve. For artists starting out, it’s very tempting to try and capture every subtle value change. That’s why my first drawing looks more tentative. For the second version, I followed Fowkes’ instructions to reduce everything in shadow to pure black, and I think it’s stronger for it. Working within the constraints of a limited drawing medium forces one to make decisions about what to leave in and what to leave out, and having a clear intention is essential if you want to create something impactful. I’m going to do some more self-portraits to try and come to grips with this idea. Up to now, whenever I’ve tackled value I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to capture every subtle value nuance instead of being a decisive editor.