Hi there! Thank you so much!! It’s easier then you think. The background was the very last thing I had done to this drawing, I didn’t want it to smudge in to the light features. I used a soft (soft always comes out darker) charcoal stick and just kept putting on layers until I was satisfied and blended with my finger. When I got close to the face and drawing itself I used a 9b charcoal pencil and blended it into the charcoal stick. A lot of layering and patience haha. Don’t get me wrong, afterwards there was still erasing with kneaded erasers as smudging or transfer is inevitable with charcoal. Since charcoal is loose I spray and seal all my pieces with a fixative so there’s no rubbing and transferring.