Here some of my first serious attempts at using charcoal for longer than a minute.
The following is a one hour study of texture (influenced by bad light), mass and composition. One goal was realism.
(Pressed charcoal pencil (soft) and vine charcoal twig on smooth newsprint.)
To use up some left over time, I picked a new branch and gave it 10 minutes or so.
(Pressed charcoal pencil (medium) on smooth newsprint.)
Wordslye 