My Special Liquid Graphite Recipe

Finally sharing how I make my special liquid graphite mixture!

I actually kind of stole this recipe from my friend and incredible artist, Dan Quintana. He uses a similar mixture in his graphite pieces but he was pretty secretive in his specific recipe (he only gave me hints haha). With the few hints though I was basically able to take that and experiment until I got the results I wanted. The result is definitely different from how he uses it, but what matters is I found what works best for me.

[Dan Quintana’s Graphite work. Look closely at the brush stroke marks and you can see how he uses the liquid graphite.]

This is my preferred method and mixture of materials for how I like to use it in my pieces!

The four components of this mixture are:

Nitram Fusains Liquid Charcoal, Cretacolor Graphite Powder, Coates Artists Willow Charcoal Powder, and water.

Unfortunately, I don’t have precise measurements for the ratio of these components, as I usually adjust the amounts as I go, adding more of one material or another to achieve the consistency I need for each specific use.

To begin, I usually take a small, empty jar and squeeze in a little bit of the Nitram Liquid Charcoal. Then, I tap in about the same amount of graphite powder and start mixing. The paste initially becomes quite thick and slightly dry. At this point, I add small drops of water to the mixture until it moves easily but remains viscous, not watery. I test this mixture on paper at this stage.

The result should be quite dark, but because of the graphite powder, it will dry with a slight shine and a grayish tone. If I want a deeper, darker black, I incrementally add small amounts of the Coates Charcoal Powder, testing and adjusting until I achieve the desired tone and consistency.

You can see the fun textures I can get when I put down thick layers of it here!

This process is fairly experimental, but I genuinely enjoy tweaking it until I reach the perfect consistency and darkness for my piece.

I typically store the mixture in the small jar for later use. While it may dry out over time, it’s easy to revive with a few drops of water. I simply rehydrate the mixture and restart the experimenting process, adding small portions of the various components until I achieve the desired results again.

You can see how I use this mixture in my process videos!

Hope that sheds some light into how I get the super dark graphite effects on my pieces. Send me photos of your pieces if you experiment with this fun material!