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Every time I think I know about all types of charcoal, another one seems to pop up. This time it was vine charcoal. It has some really unique, interesting properties and uses, so let’s get into all them!
Vine charcoal is used to create the initial draft of your drawing. It barely sticks to the page, making it super easy to remove. For this reason, it’s perfect for laying down the rough work and foundations of your drawing without worrying about messing it up. This allows you to relax and be free with your initial sketch.
Vine charcoal is made from burnt grapevines. This type of charcoal is very brittle and doesn’t stick to the page well.
This might seem like a negative, but that’s the whole point of it!
It’s a forgiving medium that lets you explore as you begin your drawing, instead of having to be extremely careful or draw extremely lightly. With vine charcoal, one swipe of your hand over the page, and it’s virtually gone.
If you ever hear about willow charcoal and are unsure of the difference, it’s actually very simple to understand.
Vine charcoal and willow charcoal are quite similar but have some notable differences.
Instead of being made from grapevines, willow charcoal is made from carbonized willow tree branches.
The main difference between the two is that willow charcoal is softer and easier to erase, but is extremely brittle.
Vine charcoal on the other hand is stronger and slightly harder to erase (although still very easy)!
The differences between the two aren’t very important. as they both serve the same purpose.
I would go for vine charcoal, purely based on the fact that it breaks less, but either one is great.
Compressed charcoal is made from powdered charcoal that is compressed and held together with some type of binder, whereas willow charcoal is made from carbonized willow tree branches.
This makes compressed charcoal produce much darker marks that stick to the page a lot more.
Vine charcoal is used similarly to regular charcoal. The main difference is that you don’t have to worry as much about making a mistake.
It’s great for portraits or anything that requires you to loosely sketch out the proportions beforehand.
Just be aware of how brittle it is, and how easy it is to erase. Remember, the marks you make with vine charcoal aren’t going to stick around much at all. See them purely as guidelines that will help you map out the correct proportions.
Vine charcoal isn’t a medium you’re going to want to use by itself unless you don’t mind waking up to find your masterpiece has literally blown off the page!
Of course, you could use a fixative spray to keep it on the page. Fixative sprays are used for any chalky/dusty medium (charcoal, pastels, etc.) that has a tendency to easily smudge.
You spray a coat on your finished artwork and it magically becomes protected by an invisible film! You can swipe your hand across it and nothing will happen to it.
The sad thing is that most artists don’t find out about vine charcoal until long into their art career.
This is such a shame because it’s the perfect medium for beginners.
One of the most intimidating and stressful things about drawing, especially with charcoal, is starting out the drawing. You can feel like one mistake ruins the entire drawing.
This thought alone is enough to tense anyone up, resulting in stiff, unnatural lines.
That’s why I highly recommend vine charcoal to beginners. Just the knowledge that the marks you’re about to make aren’t permanent results in much more natural, fluid artwork, and also makes the drawing experience so much more fun and dynamic.
One cool thing you can do with vine charcoal is using it to create toned paper really fast.
All you have to do is go over the paper with your stick and then rub the marks around.
The great thing about this is you can do it as many times as you want, each time getting a slightly darker tone.
The properties of the vine charcoal allow it to be spread evenly across the page. At the same time, the vine charcoal doesn’t allow you to make your marks too dark.
This makes it perfect for quickly toning your page.
I’d keep some wet wipes nearby though because it can get messy!
Because of how brittle it is, vine charcoal shouldn’t be stored in a pencil case or with your regular charcoal.
Instead, you should store it in its own thin box (I use the one it comes in).
The set you get should include an elastic band too, which is used to hold together all your pieces of vine charcoal.
Storing it correctly (and not mixing it with your other supplies!) is important, because you don’t want to end up with a pencil case full of charcoal dust, and millions of tiny, broken vine charcoal pieces!
Now that you know all about vine charcoal (and willow charcoal), you can get some and start experimenting!
It’s a really fun and useful medium that can bring out the natural artist in you!
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