Original Charcoal Drawing by @caseynealartwork - 'Lightning Strike'
My first Steemit artwork post!
One of my most popular charcoal drawings, the lightning storm!
I've received lots of messages asking how I created this drawing, so I'll give a quick rundown of the process for anyone that's interested.
Before I start the drawing I sand down some white and black charcoal using the sandpaper block featured in the photo. I let all the powder fall on two sheets of aluminum foil, one for black charcoal and one for white charcoal. (The charcoal powder doesn't stick to the foil.) The first step consists of using a clean piece of fabric to dip in the charcoal powder for the values in the sky. Once I get powder applied to the cloth I blend it into the fabric by swirling it on a scrap sheet of paper. Swirling the fabric on the scrap paper works the charcoal in so it won't apply too heavy in the sky values. Get all the dark sky values blended and applied to the sky first. Then use a separate piece of fabric to dip in the white charcoal powder and use the same method to make the soft white values in the sky. Next I'll sharpen the black charcoal pencil and begin drawing the landscape silhouette, blacking out everything below the horizon line. Use the white charcoal pencil to "dot" on the page to create the rocks and dirt. Then I get that black charcoal pencil sharpened and draw in the tree silhouette. Last step, I sharpen the hell out of that white charcoal pencil and carve the lightning into the texture of the paper. After each lightning bolt I'll resharpen the white charcoal pencil using the sandpaper. Once the drawing is finished I use dry paintbrushes to blend any areas that need it!
I hope this information proves useful to someone out there.
Materials:
Pencils: General's White & Black Charcoal Pencils
Paper: Strathmore 400 Series Artagain Black Paper
The Final:
Photo Details:
Fine Art Prints Available:
http://www.caseynealartwork.com/product/lightning-strike
Thank you for those that took the time to look through my first Steemit post! It's very much appreciated.
Be sure to follow to keep up with my artwork!
Official Website: http://www.caseynealartwork.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNealArtwork/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casey_neal/
Impressive work. Well done
Thanks man. Definitely a compliment coming from you, your charcoal work is phenomenal.
This is one of the best pieces of art I have seen on here.
Have you got any plans to do anything exclusive to Steemit with process pictures? That kind of thing will more often than not get you a great amount of exposure.
Thank you for the kind words, man. I really appreciate that.
I'm really excited about getting my artwork posted here.
What do you mean by exclusive Steemit process pictures? I'm pretty sure I've got a few progress shots of this drawing saved on the hard drive I could dig up.
What I mean is a brand new work that you post details of on Steemit before anywhere else. There are groups on here that look for this kind of material and try to get talented Steemians some reward and exposure. Check out curie for example. It's good for the platform and good for the artist :)
Ah! That's a really great idea. I'm just finishing up a pastel drawing of an Iceberg in Antarctica, but I'll do a Steemit exclusive drawing next! Is there an specific tag that I should use for a Steemit exclusive drawing? I'll go check out curie right now.
I think you nailed the tags already :). I'll be sure to keep my eye out for your next work of art on here. Added you to my alerts :)
Thanks so much for the assistance. You've really been a great help! I'm excited to put together a drawing for the platform!