The combination of ink and charcoal in art is highly effective due to the contrasting qualities and expressive potential of both materials. Ink gives fluidity, precision, fine details, and a wide variety of tonal values, whereas charcoal delivers rich blacks, textured effects, and forceful expressive strokes. They work together to produce a dynamic interplay of light and dark, softness and assertiveness, providing depth and complexity to artworks. While ink and charcoal are a classic material combination, artists sometimes experiment with different materials. Watercolour and pen, oil pastels and graphite, or acrylic paint and collage all provide varied textures, colour choices, and effects, allowing for experimentation and one-of-a-kind visual experiences. It is impossible to find the origin of the ink and charcoal combination to a single person because artists throughout history have found and used this combination independently. For millennia, numerous artistic traditions and nations have used the combination, with each artist adding their own skills and interpretations. Regarding the most costly ink and charcoal art item, it is difficult to define a specific artwork due to fluctuating art market values and different elements impacting value.

Daphne Odjig is a Canadian Indigenous artist who started her career in the late 1950s. She used pastels and acrylics into her artwork, drawing inspiration from her Indigenous roots, and utilizing brilliant colours and varied texture elements. “The Indian in Transition,” produced in 1967, is widely regarded as her first acknowledged work, marking a watershed moment in her career. Daphne Odjig sold the most artwork in her own gallery, Odjig Indian Prints of Canada, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The gallery functioned as a focal point for the promotion of Indigenous art, attracting art aficionados and collectors from all over the world and contributing to Odjig’s success and popularity.