>>3812828Charcoal is more expressive, and more suited for gestural studies, quick poses, and doing sketches on canvas for painting. It's got it's own uses, it's not a question of "better", more a question of intent and aesthetic.
And, it's much more delicate than pencil, as the charcoal doesn't adhere well, even to "toothy" papers (you want a very textured paper for charcoal), unless you use fixative. It can be very bold and expressive, and very delicate, depending on how you use it. Most figure drawing classes use it, on large paper, for it's expressive qualities, and being able to fill large areas much faster than with a pencil. It's also not shiny, if you build up a lot in darker areas, like pencils will get.
