u/foreveredredred

Hi dear artists, I'm not an artist. But I found a charcoal stick last week and I felt so good using it so I want to draw with charcoal to fill my evenings.

I bought willow charcoal by Marie's and General's black and white pencils. While drawing I felt my charcoal stick barely left a trace on paper. It even scratched the paper when I tried to force darker shadows and lines. I tried to draw over it to maybe add another layer, but then I realized the layer bellow isn't fixed and is getting erased...

So a lot of questions really. Someone mind telling me what am I doing wrong?