black chalk
Shadowy sketching medium
Black chalk is a soft, dark drawing material made from carbonaceous shale or slate, used by artists since the Renaissance for sketching and shading.
It produces rich, velvety blacks and subtle gradations: The old master drawings were executed in black chalk on toned paper.
Often used alongside red chalk and white chalk for three-color studies.
- pencilGraphite writing instrument
- slateFissile metamorphic rock
- shadingDepicting light and darkness
- drawingMarks forming a picture
- Old MastersPre-modern European artists
crayon · artistic · matte · natural pigments · carbon-based · chiaroscuro · Michelangelo · Baroque period · Renaissance art · Leonardo da Vinci · sketching · kneaded eraser · artist's studio · soft · monochromatic · life drawing · preliminary sketch · shale