Including an Elvis biopic and the latest Jurassic World

April 20 – June 4, 2022

Borgen returns and Marvel gets its first Muslim superhero

April 15 – May 28, 2022

May 6 – June 4, 2022

How a Danish TV series depicts politics with a rare 'clear-eyed realism'

April 23 – June 4, 2022

A 'tear-jerkingly sweet and tender' buddy story

The latest Star War series on Disney+ is the darkest yet

Five stars for Hirokazu Kore-eda's funny, knotty caper – with a big heart

New Elvis biopic is trademark Baz Luhrmann

The Stars at Noon is a romantic thriller set in the tropics

The film is 'marvellously imaginative' but 'flawed'

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From early cave painters to Pablo Picasso to Roberto Longo, artists have long loved the expressive potential of a soft charcoal pencil or crayon. Each sweep of charcoal offers intense black color and easy blending for preliminary studies, lush landscapes, or photorealistic portraits. There is a wide variety of artist’s charcoals on the market, each with its own unique set of properties and ingredients. Compressed charcoal is a soft block or stick, often created from burned birch, clay, and black pigment. Charcoal pencils are similar to graphite pencils; they’re often used to render crisp, detailed drawings. There are also delicate charcoals made from burning willow twigs and grape vines. Buying charcoal implements in a set is a nice option, giving you tools for an array of effects from the get-go. We can help you find the set best suited to your needs; browse our picks below.

ARTNEWS RECOMMENDS
General’s Classic Charcoal Set
The popular pencil purveyor offers a number of charcoal sets, but we like this one as it covers a diverse range of charcoal types in many different grades, all at an affordable price. It’s suitable for both seasoned and beginner users of charcoal, with implements showcasing consistency in quality and performance. Highlights include eight black charcoal pencils (from 6B extra-soft to HB hard) that have little drag and blend nicely, two white charcoal pencils to create values and highlights, and 10 compressed charcoal sticks—including four sturdy jumbo pieces that can be turned on their wider sides to efficiently cover large areas. This set will satisfy virtually all your shading and smudging needs.

WE ALSO LIKE
Derwent Charcoal Set
If you love sketching with willow and vine charcoal, consider Derwent’s set. It’s the only option on our list to include both in addition to harder kinds of charcoal. You get one chunky piece of willow charcoal for intense mark-making and two long stripes of vine charcoal ideal for looser strokes, plus three charcoal pencils. One is a dark variety that’s slightly softer than General’s and therefore capable of producing slightly cleaner lines that are less prone to smudging. The other two are tinted pencils in a brown and a white—great to add subtle tones into your drawings. Also included are three compressed charcoal blocks that smudge beautifully and can achieve rich depth. Note that unlike other brands, Derwent designates its charcoal by shade rather than by the standard grading scale for hardness.

April 1 – May 22, 2022

December 6, 2021 – May 31, 2022

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Love charcoal but hate the mess? Pick up a charcoal pencil, which is composed of compressed charcoal inside a protective layer, typically wood. Suitable for drawing, sketching, or smudging, a charcoal pencil offers a familiar feel and provides you with a lot of control over your marks. Even in this more structured form, it can be manipulated to create an array of rich and dark tones, as well as thin lines and bold ones. Our picks range from beginner to artist-grade sets. Remember that charcoal, even in pencil form, is delicate, so these can still break if dropped. And sharpen with care.

ARTNEWS RECOMMENDS
General’s Charcoal Kit
This trusted brand, which has been manufacturing pencils since 1889, produces drawing tools championed for their smooth, uniform quality. Its charcoal pencils have little drag, take to blending very nicely, and are affordable. This set includes lots of options to achieve different shading effects. You get one white charcoal pencil and five black charcoal pencils, but that’s not all—compressed charcoal sticks in 2B, 4B, and 6B hardnesses, a white compressed charcoal stick, a carbon sketch pencil, a sharpener, and  a kneaded eraser round out the set. The pencils are durable and won’t easily break in your hand. Sharpening them is another story: They can snap in a hand sharpener, so it’s wise to invest in a compatible sharpener or keep them pointy with an X-Acto knife.

Buy: General’s Charcoal Kit $13.50

WE ALSO LIKE
Derwent Charcoal Pencils
Derwent’s pencils are slightly scratchier than General’s, but because they aren’t as soft, they produce cleaner lines that are less susceptible to smudging. This set includes one light, two medium, and two dark pencils as well as a white highlighting pencil. The differences among them are clear, which means you get an excellent variety of tones to work with. Encased in a round, 8-millimeter barrel made of cedar, these are comfortable to hold and relatively resistant to breaking. They come packed with their own sharpener in a sturdy metal tin. 

Days after releasing Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, his first new album in five years, rapper Kendrick Lamar has unveiled a music video featuring two Texas cultural landmarks.

The recently released song “N95” has a video, codirected by Lamar and music executive Dave Free, that includes the Fort Worth Water Gardens, designed by Philip Johnson, and the city’s Kimbell Art Museum.

In one clip, Lamar is seen descending the steps into a geometric vortex carved in stone down which water cascades in sheets, and collects at the bottom in a meditation pool.

The public square, opened in 1974, sits at the south end of Fort Worth’s downtown district; it also appeared in Solange’s 2019 music video for the song “Almeda.” Images of Lamar standing at the bottom of the Fort Worth site mimic other images of him floating in the video: it opens with a segment filmed at a Los Angeles beach in which he is levitating over the ocean with his arms outspread as if on a cross.

Later, Lamar takes center stage in an empty auditorium in the Kimbell Museum’s Renzo Piano–designed auditorium, playing the piano. The venue echoes Louis Kahn’s landmark 1972 architectural design for the original museum, recognized for its scale and light-filled vaulted space, but is even more open and transparent.

Anna Delvey, the notorious scammer who traversed the upper echelons of the art world prior to being caught and arrested for grand larceny, finally opened her own art show on Thursday.

Titled “Allegedly,” the event took place at Bar Chrystie in the Public Hotel. Before it even opened, it was covered extensively by the press, garnering headlines in the New York Post, the Daily Mail, and Rolling Stone, as well as art publications like this one. While many in the art world wouldn’t be caught dead working with or being seen supporting the young German, it seems that Delvey pulled off a wildly successful event, even though she is still behind bars.

“I will say this, it was a really good time,” said Gutes Guterman, cofounder of the Drunken Canal, who attended Anna Delvey’s solo show. “Someone called the event the ‘death of culture,’ but it was the pinnacle. A socialite behind bars? That’s so pop culture.”

Delvey is committed to the bit, which is perhaps the best you can hope for amid a celebrity culture that has turned to anxious hyper-management of one’s image.

At last night’s opening, a Delvey drag performer lipsynced, donning her trademark heavy, black framed glasses. Afterward, models wearing nylon masks stomped around the bar holding Delvey’s sketches. The works are simple pencil on paper drawings with a comical bent that she created in Orange County Detention (she is now in ICE detention for overstaying her visa). Some drawings were faux newspaper covers titled The Delvey Crimes or The Delvey Journal, in which cartoons and captions abound.

Resin is so versatile—you can use it to coat easily scratchable surfaces, create highly detailed molded pieces, or sculpt it as a medium all its own. In nature, trees secrete this viscous liquid to heal gashes and punctures; synthetic resin, which is what you’ll find in most crafting supply stores, comes in liquid or powder form and firms up when mixed with resin hardener in a one-to-one ratio. First time using this miracle material? Browse our selection of starter products—all of which include both resin and hardener—to find your perfect pick.