Diagnose / Charcoal
Charcoal mistakes
Dry and very smudgeable; fixative can change appearance. Block in masses first, lift lights with a kneaded eraser.
55 faults, most common first
- Afraid of darks: the darkest value is too lightThe drawing appears timid, ghostly, and washed out. Rescue
- Blending everything with a finger so edges vanishThe drawing looks like it is viewed through steam or smudged glass. Rescue
- Bottles and vases lopsided: no centre axisA symmetrical object has mismatched left and right contours. Rescue
- Copying every detail of a reference without simplifyingThe drawing is filled with high-contrast, tiny marks spread uniformly across every square centimetre. Rescue
- Detail before structure: rendering an eye before the head is rightIndividual features look polished and finished, but they sit awkwardly on the face. Partly
- Drawing flat: no value range (everything mid grey)The entire drawing operates within a narrow strip of mid-tone grey. Rescue
- Drawing the symbol of an eye instead of the shape you seeThe eye is drawn as a symmetrical pointy oval with sharp corners and a perfectly round, isolated iris. Rescue
- Ellipses drawn pointed at the endsThe rounded opening of a cylinder or bowl terminates in sharp, pointed corners where the curve meets the outer edges. Rescue
- Eyes placed too high on the headThe eyes are placed well above the vertical midpoint of the skull. Partly
- Face looks off but you cannot say why (unchecked symmetry and tilt)The facial features are skewed at conflicting angles, or one eye and cheek are floating higher than their partners without perspective justification. Partly
- Figure floating with no cast shadowA fully rendered figure stands on bare white paper with no contact shadow under the shoes. Rescue
- Figure grows: legs too short for the torsoThe torso, head, and arms are drawn to a generous scale, but the hips and legs appear compressed and truncated at the bottom of the page. Start again
- Fur drawn as outline scribbles instead of directional massesThe animal's silhouette is covered in frantic zigzag scribbles meant to indicate fur. Partly
- Hair drawn as strands instead of a mass of light and shadowThe hair is rendered as dozens of individual, scratching pencil strokes from root to tip. Rescue
- Hands drawn too smallThe hands are noticeably undersized for the figure, often ending abruptly at the wrists like tiny paddles. Rescue
- Hatching that follows no formShading strokes run in straight, arbitrary directions regardless of the surface curvature. Partly
- Muddy greys from overworking and over-blendingThe entire drawing sits in a middle-grey fog. Rescue
- Nose outlined instead of modelled with shadow shapesThe bridge and nostrils of the nose are drawn with hard, dark perimeter lines. Rescue
- Not checking work in a mirror or at a distanceA portrait or figure exhibits an unintended tilt, an eye sitting higher than its partner, or an overall drift to one side. Rescue
- Objects without cast shadows sitting nowhereThe objects have form shading, but the ground underneath them remains clean and blank. Rescue
- Outlines of equal weight and hardness everywhereA dark, uniform line encloses every single object, edge, and internal feature with equal thickness and intensity. Rescue
- Smudged, dirty paper from dragging the handDirty grey smears, fingerprint trails, and muddy blurs appear across the white margins and lighter areas of the paper. Rescue
- Subject has no focal pointThe canvas contains equal amounts of detail, contrast, and sharp edges everywhere. Rescue
- Trees drawn as lollipops: outline plus scribbled leavesThe tree is drawn as a straight, brown or grey stick topped with a circular contour filled with uniform scribbles. Partly
- Animal legs drawn from memory with wrong jointsThe rear legs of a four-legged animal bend forward like human knees or resemble straight sticks. Partly
- Buildings leaning with converging verticals gone wrongThe vertical edges of the buildings slant inwards at random, accidental angles. Rescue
- Charcoal portrait smeared during work from top to bottomCleanly rendered areas near the top or middle of the portrait show grey streaks, smeared contours, and grubby handprints created as the drawing progressed. Rescue
- Clouds drawn as outlined cotton ballsClouds are depicted as rounded, bumpy outlines with uniform curved bumps along every side. Rescue
- Colour palette fights: unplanned mix of many chromasThe painting features high-intensity, pure pigment across every corner without a clear dominant hue. Rescue
- Composition cut off at awkward placesLimbs, joints, or primary objects hit the boundary of the page in an awkward manner. Partly
- Dead eyes: no highlight, no eyelid shapeThe eye appears as an unvaried black disk without curvature, highlights, or distinct lid rims. Rescue
- Drawing from a photo with copied distortionsParts closer to the camera lens appear unnaturally massive, while limbs recede too quickly. Partly
- Drawing too small on the page, crowded in a cornerThe subject occupies only a fraction of the sheet, typically crammed near one edge or corner. Rescue
- Ears and nose not lining upThe ears sit at a level that conflicts with the placement of the nose and brow. Rescue
- Feet pointing nowhere: no ground contactThe feet slope downward as though viewed from above or hanging loosely, even when the rest of the figure is seen at eye level. Rescue
- Forehead too short, hairline too lowThe hairline is drawn far too close to the eyebrows, reducing the forehead to a narrow strip. Rescue
- Head drawn too narrow or too roundThe overall silhouette of the head is either overly spherical or compressed sideways into a tall, flat oval. Rescue
- Highlights lost: no lifted lights with an eraserThe entire drawing has drifted into shadow or midtone. Rescue
- Horizon line cutting the picture in halfThe horizon runs straight through the exact vertical centre of the page, splitting the composition into equal halves of sky and land. Rescue
- Landscape with no foreground, middle or background planesThe drawing lacks spatial depth because elements at different distances share the same size, detail, and contrast. Rescue
- Limbs drawn as sausage outlines with no overlap or foreshorteningLimbs are rendered as flat, symmetrical tubes meeting end to end. Rescue
- Local colour only: ignoring reflected light and temperatureThe object is painted using only its local hue mixed with black for shadow and white for highlight. Rescue
- Mouth drawn as a flat line with teeth outlined one by oneThe mouth is rendered with a dark, continuous horizontal line separating the lips, and the teeth are outlined individually like white bricks. Partly
- Neck drawn as a tube stuck under the headThe neck appears as two parallel vertical strokes connecting the jaw directly to the shoulders. Rescue
- Objects lined up like a shop display, all the same sizeEvery object sits side-by-side in a single row without overlapping. Start again
- Paper tearing or burnished by over-erasingThe surface of the paper has become rough, fuzzy, or torn, with visible paper fibers lifting off the sheet. Start again
- Shiny graphite sheen from heavy pressureThe darkest areas of the drawing reflect light with a harsh, silvery, metallic sheen. Partly
- Stiff pose with no weight shift or line of actionThe figure stands rigid, with shoulders and hips drawn parallel to one another. Partly
- Stopping too early because it looks fine in the phone photoThe physical artwork appears faint, lacking rich darks and crisp details, despite reading clearly when photographed. Rescue
- Table top tilting up like a wallThe surface of the table appears tilted upward like a vertical board rather than receding horizontally. Partly
- Tangents: edges kissing awkwardlyTwo distinct edges in the picture touch exactly at their borders without clear overlap. Rescue
- Wrong head to body ratio on petsThe pet's head is visibly out of scale with its ribcage and limbs. Partly
- Charcoal fixed too heavily and gone shinyThe rich, velvety matte surface of the charcoal has turned unevenly shiny, dark, or plasticky. Partly
- Framing wrongly: cropped or overmattedThe outer border of the frame or mat cuts directly into the subject matter, leaving no margin for the composition to breathe. Rescue
- Shapes all similar in sizeThe masses, light patches, or negative spaces across the work are all roughly the same dimensions. Rescue
Faults that apply to every medium are collected on the any medium page. Measuring problems may also be worth checking with the proportion grid, and paint drying questions with the drying time guide.
Checklist: check your work against these
Each line is the quick test from the matching page. Print this page for a studio checklist.
- Afraid of darks: the darkest value is too light. Take a photo of your drawing on a smartphone; if turning the contrast slider all the way up finally makes the drawing look right, your darks are too light.
- Blending everything with a finger so edges vanish. Squint at the drawing from two metres away; if you cannot tell where an object ends and the background begins, the edges are over-softened.
- Bottles and vases lopsided: no centre axis. Hold your drawing vertically in front of a mirror or invert the sheet upside down; the asymmetry will jump out instantly.
- Copying every detail of a reference without simplifying. Squint heavily at your source photo; if half the tiny details disappear in your blur, but they are clearly rendered on your paper, you have over-copied.
- Detail before structure: rendering an eye before the head is right. Hold the drawing in front of a mirror or look at it inverted on your phone to check feature alignment immediately.
- Drawing flat: no value range (everything mid grey). Hold a piece of pure white paper against your brightest highlight, and place an ebony pencil or charcoal stick against your darkest shadow; see how far your drawing falls short of both.
- Drawing the symbol of an eye instead of the shape you see. Look at the drawing upside down; if the eye immediately reads as a generic leaf shape with a dot in the centre, it is a symbol.
- Ellipses drawn pointed at the ends. Look at the outer ends of your ellipse upside down: if they form pointed corners rather than gentle curves, the shape is faulty.
- Eyes placed too high on the head. Hold a pencil vertically with your thumb marking the distance from the chin to the inner corner of the eye, then compare that length against the distance from the eye to the very top of the head.
- Face looks off but you cannot say why (unchecked symmetry and tilt). Hold the drawing up to a mirror or take a photo on your phone and flip the image horizontally; hidden tilts and asymmetries will appear immediately.
- Figure floating with no cast shadow. Squint at the base of the drawing; if the white paper passes unbroken underneath the feet or shoes, the figure lacks a contact shadow.
- Figure grows: legs too short for the torso. Measure the total figure height; the halfway point of an adult figure should sit at the pubic bone, with the legs accounting for half the full stature.
- Fur drawn as outline scribbles instead of directional masses. Squint at the animal drawing from an arm's length; if the body looks like an electric fuzzball rather than a solid, lit form, you have drawn individual hairs instead of clumps.
- Hair drawn as strands instead of a mass of light and shadow. Step three paces back from your drawing; if the hair dissolves into a grey fuzzy mess with no clear lit side and shadow side, you have drawn strands instead of masses.
- Hands drawn too small. Hold your own open palm across your face; notice that your hand extends from your chin up to your brow or hairline. Compare that same measurement on your drawing.
- Hatching that follows no form. Place your pencil point on a hatch mark and ask whether an ant walking that line would be moving across a curved surface or a flat table.
- Muddy greys from overworking and over-blending. Take a photo on your phone and convert it to black and white; check if your darks reach true black and your lights reach pure paper white.
- Nose outlined instead of modelled with shadow shapes. Look at the nose in a mirror or in greyscale; check if the sides of the nose are formed by lines or by wide, soft shifts in value.
- Not checking work in a mirror or at a distance. Hold the work up to a flat mirror or invert the canvas upside down right now; any lean will jump out immediately.
- Objects without cast shadows sitting nowhere. Look at the very base of your object: is there a crisp dark line or wedge directly underneath, or does the white tabletop run right up to the contour?
- Outlines of equal weight and hardness everywhere. Squint at your drawing; if the lines around the lit side of your subject are as dark and thick as the lines around the shadow side, line weight is unvarying.
- Smudged, dirty paper from dragging the hand. Look at the side of your little finger and heel of your drawing hand; if it is silver or black, you are actively dragging pigment across your work.
- Subject has no focal point. Look away for five seconds, then glance quickly at your artwork: if your eyes dart around frantically rather than settling on one clear spot, you have no focal point.
- Trees drawn as lollipops: outline plus scribbled leaves. Squint at your tree drawing and ask if you could carve it out of a solid ball, or if it looks like a flat circle on a post.
- Animal legs drawn from memory with wrong joints. Trace the hind leg from hip to ground; verify whether the high rear joint is pointing backward (the true heel/hock) rather than forward.
- Buildings leaning with converging verticals gone wrong. Hold a clear plastic ruler upright against the side of your drawing board to check if your drawn walls drift away from true vertical.
- Charcoal portrait smeared during work from top to bottom. Check the side of your drawing palm; if it is coated in black charcoal dust, you have been dragging pigment across finished sections.
- Clouds drawn as outlined cotton balls. Look at the edges of your clouds: if you can trace around the entire cloud with a sharp point without losing the line, you have drawn a symbol.
- Colour palette fights: unplanned mix of many chromas. Take a photo of your painting and desaturate it halfway; if the composition suddenly becomes calmer and easier to read, your saturation is unmanaged.
- Composition cut off at awkward places. Hold your hands or two sheets of paper over the margins to test shifting the crop inward or outward by two centimetres.