Charcoal is one of the oldest art mediums, having been used for cave drawings by early man. Back then, charcoal was used in the form of the ends of burned sticks. Today's charcoal artists have more modern options: compressed charcoal, vine charcoal, and powdered charcoal. ... This is also the kind used in charcoal pencils.
Smooth paper is great for graphite, but it doesn't hold charcoal or pastel as well as drawing paper with a rougher texture. It's called charcoal or pastel paper. It will have the texture you want. Canson Mi-Teintes, Canson Ingres, Strathmore 500 Series and Fabriano Tiziano are popular choices.
