Robert Liberace Red Chalk Workshop

I recently took a Robert Liberace workshop at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia.  Rob prepares drawing paper (Canson Mi-Tientes or Twinrocker) with a wash of a warm yellow brown (yellow ochre or some derivative) watercolor.  He lets this dry, then adds some additional sizing to the paper with a solution of amber shellac diluted 1 to 5 with 90% isopropyl alcohol.  He then uses Verithin terracotta pencils to execute the drawing.  This gives a gorgeous finish to the drawing which has the appearance of a da Vinci or Michelangelo red chalk drawing (well, when Rob does it at least...).

Below you can see two drawings I completed under Rob's tutelage:

Carol, pencil on paper, copyright Jaime Cooper, in Robert Liberace's class

Roger, pencil on paper, copyright Jaime Cooper, in Robert Liberace's class

Rob has some fantastic instructional DVDs available on his website, including one where he utilizes the method above (the figure in motion drawing DVD).