OCTOBER is a great time to introduce beginning sketching skills. They’ve had a few months of those “start of the year” lessons and its time to jump into more challenging projects. CHARCOAL DRAWING LESSON JACK-O-LANTERNS are a fun way to learn or review charcoal sketching, shading, and shadows. Learning how to create lights and darks in charcoal or graphite are a game-changer for students. This lesson can be taught remotely or in class. If charcoal is not available, a pencil will do the trick. By changing the pressure you apply to the pencil, it will create lighter or darker areas.
Halloween Charcoal Drawing Lesson- Jack-O-Lantern
This Charcoal Jack-O-Lantern drawing implements a lot of important sketching skills.
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Materials: I used Bristol paper, but a thick drawing paper would work as well, Generals compressed charcoal sticks, Pink Pearl Erasers will do), and a paper towel or tissue for blending.
Charcoal in a rectangle almost the size of the entire paper. I use the side of the charcoal. Then rub the entire paper with the paper towel to even out the value. I refer to this background as our “middle value”.
Sketch out the shape of the pumpkin with the charcoal. I stress to the students that we can not erase the drawing, so drawing lightly is a must. Then darken in a shadow on the left with the charcoal. I refer to the shadow as the “dark value”. Use the paper towel to slightly blend the shadow, then we use the dark charcoal that will be on the paper towel to add some shading to the left side of the pumpkin, by just rubbing it along the side and bottom of the pumpkin.
Add the curved lines on the front of the pumpkin, darker at the bottom and lighter at the top, to help create the roundness. Add the stem and slightly darken one side with the charcoal and blend it with your finger.
Use the eraser to wipe away the charcoal on the top and right side of the pumpkin, as well as a little of the top right of each segment. This is the “light value”. We can also erase away the bottom half of the background to create a light foreground.
Use the charcoal to add in the face and a spider web with a spider too!
Happy Halloween!
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