Working with charcoal or graphite is fundamental to the development of the skillset that, combined with talent and inspiration, allows artists to express complex concepts and emotions effectively in a graphical format.

Sucessful gesture drawings capture the motion and mood of the subject in a few simple strokes made in a short period of time. Practicing this technique also teaches the artist when to walk away from a piece and call it done.

Conture line drawing is especially effective where limited information is needed to describe a complex idea or image. Due to file size issues and the limitations of vector based graphics (created by applications like Flash), conture drawings combined with color fills or value gradients are used make up a large portion of web based graphics.

Mastering the transition from dark to light areas in the picture plane creates the preception of depth on a two dimentional surface. 3D applications use complex mathematical equations to create this effect.

The stark detail of a black and white image can convey powerful emotion.

Using a limited palette develops skills in composition. Here the open white space on the left is balanced by the mass of black on the right. The space is further activated by the diagonal lines drawing the eye through it.