One of the best tools for softening charcoal is to use a dry paintbrush. The older it is, the better. As a stippler, I’m pretty rough on brushes. I reserve the battered ones for charcoal drawings, and the brush method is what I teach students.
Kwame Nkrumah’s portrait is actually finished now, though I wanted to showcase an 8th grade advanced student’s work using the brush technique.
Portraits on Tiffany 
I hadn’t thought to use a brush to soften or blend charcoal, but it makes sense that that would work. I’ll have to try it sometime.
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It’s a gamechanger.
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That is a neat tip to use a dry brush. One of the reasons I’ve stayed away from charcoal is it’s smugability and messiness. Does the dry brush reduce that?
Love your portrait
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It does to some degree. Works well with the soft grade and helps smooth out the gradations.
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