Charcoal Sticks, Round 5-9 mm, 13.5 cm, Box of 25

Natural charcoal sticks are burnt wood and nothing else — no binder, no wax, no clay. That is why charcoal makes the blackest, softest mark of any drawing material, and equally why it lifts back off the paper almost completely with a cloth or a kneaded eraser.

That reversibility is the whole point. Charcoal is the medium for finding a drawing rather than committing to one, which is why life classes start with it and why it suits large, fast, exploratory work. Draw mass with the side of the stick and line with the end, snap it rather than sharpen it — a broken end gives you a fresh edge instantly — and fix the finished sheet or it will print onto whatever is stacked on top of it.

Five to nine millimetres is the general-purpose diameter: thinner sticks snap under any real pressure, and thicker ones are awkward to draw an actual line with. A box of twenty-five is a term of drawing rather than a single session — charcoal is consumed fast, and it is meant to be.

• Box of 25 natural charcoal sticks
• Round, 5 to 9 mm diameter, 13.5 cm long
• Erases almost completely with a cloth or kneaded eraser
• Fix the finished drawing — charcoal transfers