charcoal

Life drawing in charcoal - starting with a medium ground (rubbing the entire page with charcoal to give a relatively constant medium gray), highlights are added by removing charcoal with a rubber and darker tones are added by layering on more charcoal. As a non-drawer I really enjoyed this technique and the way only really rough detail was needed and your eyes imagine the rest, making a realistic drawing from just a few shades.

I use a lot of black body and glaze stain in ceramics. It is also messy and if not 'fixed' (normally combined with clay or a glaze recipe) rubs off all over the place. Just like charcoal. I think there could be a project here...

When researching charcoal drawings and techniques, I came across the work of Antje Laidler. Her recent charcoal drawings, based on simple geometric patterns, are amazing. And would look fantastic in 3d. The arrangement of triptychs works particularly well.