Hello Chris,
Thanks for your post.
My panel is 1/4 inch masonite.
I create a "Windberg" style panel - i.e., a panel that has a very fine sandpaper-like texture. I start by sanding the masonite and rolling on 4 coats of professional gesso with marble dust added to it. I then sand the whole thing so it is smooth as ivory with no grain or real texture visible. My last coat is the same gesso, but thinned about 1/3 with polymer medium. I roll it out very evenly and once the surface is covered, I keep rolling it with a soft slightly damp foam roller till the texture is like fine sandpaper. I then use good professional gesso to seal the back and sides.
This makes an excellent surface for charcoal. You can scratch, carve, erase, pull out. I blend with bristle brushes and it just eats them up, but I have not found anything that does a better job, so I keep buying them.
I sometimes tone my ground and work in from the middle, and other times, I work directly on the white and work inward. Both styles create differing looks - the toned ground tends to look more soft and I usually have to use white pastel in those to really pull highlights. This portrait is done straight on white.
I don't fix my charcoals as they are pretty durable once applied to that surface and I find that fixatives can sometimes change the values. I do recommend framing them under glass. This particular piece I will frame for the client, so the actual panel is 3 inches larger all around to accomodate the matts. We are going to give it a double matt of a light cream inside and a dark sage suede matt outside with a fairly rustic natural wood frame.
I find that charcoal is a good entry into portraiture for many people as the cost is in the hundreds instead of the thousands for a portrait. I do a lot of them. And they are great to do at shows as it really draws people in.
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