Guidance
Honestly, I’ve not spent no time looking for free charcoal tutorials or guides on youtube or internet because this is one where I truly believe doing is the best way to learn but one I found is Mad Charcoal.
If I come across any others, then I’ll update this page.
He does do some tutorials but in general, I just prefer his style and the way he goes from dark to light and broad shapes to detail. Side note: Mad Charcoal uses Pan Pastels as a powder rather than charcoal powder.
Equipment - Charcoal
There seems to be 4 types of charcoal, of which I only have 3:
Charcoal pencil – charcoal in a pencil
Compressed charcoal – a solid chunk of charcoal
Willow – a very thin charcoal stick which is like a pencil with the wood
Powder – pots of charcoal powder
For the last one, I’ve seen youtubers actually make their own by sanding compressed charcoal using mesh sandpaper that comes with holes (so it goes through the holes). I may try that with normal sandpaper and see what happens.
The only other specific equipment I’ve seen used are charcoal palettes (example here – not an affiliate or anything like that) which look like a useful tool though I do not have a set yet. For now, I’ll use my thumb as it looks similar!
Other equipment
Erasers – all types but kneadable seems to be the preferred one
Blender – a paper stump seems to be one that is used a lot but I also use cotton buds, tissues and fingers.
Fixative – charcoal requires something to fix it and I’m sure you can get proper fixative but I just use hairspray and it works just as well for my current drawings.
Paper
This was a difficult one. My initial sketchbook, in which I’d done the pencils and would have preferred to continue was so textured that it basically ate up the charcoal pencils: an A4 multi-media book, 100 gsm.
I then tried A4 sketchbook, 140 gsm and again multi-media but less media and doesn’t include a symbol for charcoal. That was ok but not different enough from the previous book.
Both of those are acid free.
I then tried an A3, 135 gsm multi media paper that does include charcoal. It doesn’t mention being acid-free so I’ve assumed it isn’t. To touch it is smoother than the other two and the best drawing experience.
Conclusion: ignore those that claim to be multi-media and just go for something quite smooth.