Drawing the Head in Charcoal with Zhaoming Wu

Zhaoming Wu is a consummate draftsman who can draw in any medium. If you have purchased his book on drawing, you know that he uses the charcoal medium in many different ways to create works that have distinctive looks. This new video shows you how he approaches drawing the head of a beautiful girl whose hair might be a challenge for many.

His process of building from a layer of vine charcoal (in many forms) before layers with the more permanent charcoal pencil and compressed charcoal is easy to understand. He uses his fingers, palms, paper napkins and kneaded eraser to smooth, blend, and highlight the lighted areas of the drawing.

It is magical to see how he pulls this incredibly beautiful head out of blank paper. If drawing is your nemesis, this is a program you will want to view over and over to see how little is required to create a head of astounding sculptural quality on a flat piece of paper.

If you haven’t yet purchased Zhaoming Wu’s book on drawing, this is a perfect opportunity to acquire both the book and the video. The book has been translated into English for the most information about all of the various ways that Mr. Wu works with his drawing tools.