are there any techniques i can use for shading pencil sketches?
i am just starting some pencil sketches and need some techniques for shading them. any tips are appreciated
i need to shade a sketch but i don’t want it to look streaky or like i just colored it in. any tips are appreciated!
The best results are achieved using a variety of pencils 5H for the lighter shades to 5B for the darkest. A good variety is 5H, 2H, B, 2B, 5B.
Always be gentle with the pressure you apply to the pencil you don’t want to create a thick shinny layer of graphite covering the paper’s texture because then it won’t accept anymore layers.
Start your first layer with the hardest pencil, 5H, just marking where the darkest shades on your model then move to the softer pencil (2H) and start building up the dark areas. Use your harder pencils to blend the different tonalities. Every time you move to your next pencil the drawing should look ‘finished’ but with little contrast. When you finish your last layer with the 5B pencil you will be able to appreciate all the degrees of contrast.
Here’s a sample of drawing I made using this technique.
Croos hatching isn’t recommended it creates a visual texture that might not be what you desire for the material you want to represent.