Charcoal is a term that you might get to hear in association with multiple items today. Be it road, toothpaste, beauty products and more you may find some items associated with Charcoal. In this blog, we will discuss a completely different aspect of charcoal’s association with art. Charcoal art might be a lesser known form of art. If you are an ardent fan of artworks of different artists you might have heard about it at some point. Let’s know more about the Charcoal art – the essence of Thota Vaikuntam artwork. 

What is Charcoal art? 

Charcoal art is a drawing technique that employs an implement of charred wood. It is a staple of any art student’s study. It has always been a great way for any artist to practice gesture and how to zero in on big shapes without getting bogged down in detail. With the help of varying the pressure of his or her fingers while holding a charcoal and simply turning or rotating the implement, a charcoal artist is able to create great levels of gradation. Art has the power to create a whole new kind of stroke on the surface of a work. This is beautifully shown in the Thota Vaikuntam painting. Charcoal responds strongly to the grain of the paper it is used on, just like many drawing media. 

History of charcoal art

If history is to be believed, charcoal was the first tool that early humans used to make artworks that were done in caves. It was the only art form that was in practice around 28,000 years ago. With the evolution process the drawing medium was also refined from burnt wood to finely-ground charcoal bound with wax or gum into sticks, crayons, and pencils. 

Types of Charcoal used

Most artists recommend charcoal pencils to beginners. Some of its other types are:-

• Willow or Vine charcoal
• Compressed charcoal
• Charcoal powder

Tools required in Charcoal art? 

In the process of charcoal drawing there are only a few tools that you will need to be available. To begin with, you need charcoal of a variety of charcoal – vine, compressed, pencil form, etc. Apart from that you will also require the following tools. 

• Kneaded Eraser – This is a special type of eraser that is designed to lift the material off of the surface. These types of erasers work extremely well with charcoal. 
• Blending Stumps – This tool will also help you a lot. It allows an artist to have full control over the blending and smearing of the charcoal. A blending stump can be created by tightly rolling up drawing paper to a point.

While you are drawing on a flat surface, having a paper towel handy ready will help in more than one way. You can lay the paper towel between your hand and the surface of the drawing so that your hand doesn’t smear your work.

Famous artists in this art

Charcoal art is a traditional art form and has many artists whose works are keeping the essence of this art form alive. There have been many national and international artists in the stream. Following is a small list of some of them. 

• Gunjan Daga
• Sadashiv Sawant
• Shubham Kamble
• Thota Vaikuntam
• Amit Kumar Meena
• Dennis Creffield
• Käthe Kollwitz
• Leon Kossoff
• Frank Auerbach
• Henry Moore

End Note

By now we know that charcoal is a versatile artist tool. This tool can be used to suit a wide variety of artwork styles. Charcoal art when done on a textured paper, brings out an amazing impact. An artist has the option to moderate their artwork with the help of pressure of their hand. Each Thota Vaikuntam painting is a perfect example of this artwork. 

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