Wildlife in Charcoal Workshop

What you’ll learn in this Workshop

  • How to see the full range of values in your subjects in order to depict their 3-dimensional forms, highlights, shadows, textures, and patterns in your drawings.
  • How to make and use a value scale and view finder.
  • Draw a realistic sphere and  seashell to practice the above concepts.
  • In our final project, we’ll create a detailed drawing of an African Elephant to solidify what we’ve learned and be confident to apply these concepts to anything you draw in the future.
  • Deepen your skills by watching my previous wildlife workshops at the links at the bottom of this page.

Download your Handouts

Please download the following handouts (I strongly suggest printing them out as well in order to get the most value from this workshop):

(See my full list of general art supplies I use)

Workshop Replays

I recommend watching the workshops below on your largest monitor (like a desktop computer) to aid in seeing the drawing demonstrations and also having your supplies ready to follow along.

In session #1 below, I review the supplies and basic technique of using charcoal to depict 3-dimensional form. Then we warm up with drawing a sphere and then a shell. Lastly, we draw the outline of our African Elephant that we will finish in session #2.

In session #2 below, we create our realistic drawing of the elephant we outlined above, using all the concepts and techniques learned in session #1.

Bonus workshops using charcoal

Below you can watch and follow along to some of my previous live workshops on drawing wildlife using my charcoal technique.

Questions? 

Email me any questions you may have here: christinaleighelder@gmail.com