Still-Life in Charcoal

A study of still life drawing, and lighting utilizing the versatile medium of charcoal.

Presenting Artist: Jessica Rogg 

Lesson 1

Drawing an Apple with Charcoal

What is a Still Life?• A Still Life is a drawing, painting, or photograph of an object or group of

objects. • Objects do not move, or “still”.• Traditionally, the objects used were flowers, fruit, and other kinds of food or

“life”.

Still Life, Diego Rivera

Still Life With Flowers And A Pineapple, Eugene Adolphe Chevalier

Still Life With Fish, William Merritt Chase

Today a Still Life can mean any objects small enough to be put in front of you, usually on a table.

Modern Wilderness, Kevin Sloan

Abstract Oil Painting, Tommie Olofsson

Still Life – Shoes, Zhou Chen

Charcoal DrawingCharcoal drawings were found in the caves of early

humans, which are believed to be drawn by using burnt sticks.

Drawings found in the Chauvet cave, in Ardeche, France, estimated to be drawn more than 30,000 years ago.

The Chauvet cave contains more than a thousand of the worlds oldest cave paintings. The cave was found accidentally by three local French cavers- Christian Hillaire, Elliette Brunel-Deschamps, and Jean-Marie Chauvet in 1994. Only scientists were allowed into the caves to protect the artwork from being damaged.

Pont d’Arc Cavern

Alongside the cave replica, there is also a permanent exhibition on the world of the Palaeolithic man and a room that takes you behind the scenes of the replica’s construction.

In order for the public to experience the Chauvet caves for themselves the largest decorated cave replica in the world, the Pont d’Arc Cavern was created and opened on April 25, 2015.

The Pont d’Arc cost 55 million euros (about $67 million) and took over four years to build.

Charcoal Drawing in the Renaissance

• Many Renaissance artists used charcoal for their drawing studies or to prepare their paintings and murals.

• They found the charcoal was easy to apply to their canvas creating smooth drawings that were easy to correct.

• The problem was that charcoal smudged easily and would even flake off.

• Once a way to seal the charcoal with a fixative was found, some masters began to use charcoal to create their masterpieces.

Study of Arms and Hands by Leonardo Da Vinci

Why Charcoal?

• Charcoal can produce lines that are very light or intensely black.

• Charcoal creates a rough texture that can be smudged to make it smooth.

• Working with charcoal helps an artist visualize the lighting in a simpler way because they can just focus on the black, white and gray, rather than worrying about making colors darker or lighter.

Examples of Charcoal Drawing

Charcoal Tools

• Powdered Charcoal• Compressed Charcoal

(Charcoal Sticks or Charcoal Pencil)

• Vine Charcoal

Today, there are three types of charcoal used in art:

Paper: Charcoal paper is usually rough in texture allowing the charcoal to stick. Different toned paper can be used in combination with white oil pastels (Conte’) to create contrast.

Eraser: Gum erasers allow for the charcoal to be “lifted” off the paper.

We will be using charcoal sticks in today’s project. This type of compressed charcoal allows for dark black lines and sharp edges. It is also one of the sturdiest forms making it easier to use.

She currently uses her artistic talents at Harbor Graphics and points out that, “ I do spend a lot of my time every day thinking about color and shape and how visuals communicate.”

Jessica Rogg is a talented artist and graphic designer who lives right here in Gig Harbor. She began drawing around the age of five, using her grandma’s vases of flowers and Disney movie covers for inspiration. She worked with pencil then moved into charcoal, one of her favorite mediums.

Jessica says, “I think of Graphic Design as a language, like Spanish or Chinese. And just like the written word, you can manipulate the rules to make beautiful statements. Design and art are like that; you have to know the basics, then you get to have fun with it!”

She attended Arizona State University’s Graphic Design program and finished her studies at Seattle Central Creative Academy as a logo design and marketing specialist.

A graduate of Gig Harbor High School, she worked in the production class of the newspaper and was introduced to Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign computer programs with which she began experimenting with redrawing some of her illustrations. She won several computer illustration awards at High School National Journalism Conventions.

Artist Jessica Rogg

Thank you Jessica Rogg for sharing your talent with us!!!