"Picturesque graphics": three pencil technique, multi-layered charcoal drawing

Abstract

The article describes methods of achieving painterly qualities while drawing with soft materials, which include: 1) creation of a polychrome image effect using an extremely limited color palette (white, black and red chalk (sanguine)); 2) thorough work on a multi-layer charcoal drawing employing techniques similar to those of multi-layer watercolor, oil and pastel painting, as well as papier-pelle drawing. The study was first conducted by analyzing drawing manuals, catalogs of manufacturers and suppliers of art materials from France, Great Britain, Germany, USA and Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century. What is more, the author of the article assembled a collection of antique tools and materials for drawing with charcoal, black chalk or crayon, stumping chalk (pulverized charcoal), sanguine and white chalk, the use of which was widespread in the aforementioned period. The annex to the article provides photographs of the described instruments and materials accompanied by the aggregate data from art manuals, catalogs and price lists of drawing material suppliers from London, Paris, New York, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan, published over a period from 1851 to 1913. The drawing tradition of the second half of the 19th century is among one of the most complex and challenging in the entire history of graphics, as it peculiarly combines in itself a variety of instruments and delicate thoroughness of techniques. As a result of the research, the author was able to expand and complement the existing knowledge about graphic techniques, which allows for teaching academic drawing and studying the history of drawing by applying new data and unique illustrative material.