![]() The cross hatching technique consists of overlapping lines coming from multiple directions. When using this technique, always angle your pencil more towards the paper so your strokes are nice and thick. This allows you to minimize gaps, making it easier to blend. This is my favorite and most used technique, especially for speed drawings! It’s a huge time saver. You can increase the value by applying more pressure and or using a softer grade of pencil. This shading technique consists of a series of lines that go in one general direction. The 2 faces below have very different highlights, mid-tones and shadows.įor the face on the left, I would shade my drawing with an HB for outlines and eye-whites, a 4B for the rest of the face and maybe a 6B for the pupils.įor the face on the right, I would use an HB for outlines and highlights, 4B for my first layer of shading, 5B for the second layer and light shadows, 6B for darker shadows and eye detailing, and finally a 9B for the darkest shadows.īelow are a few portrait pencil shading techniques for beginners and experienced artists alike. The range of values can vary greatly from one portrait to another due to lighting or skin color. If you need help selecting the best pencil grades for a portrait, create a value scale using your own graphite pencils, compare the values to your reference image directly and select the range of pencils that closely match the values you need. For example, it would have been difficult to shade the background using an HB and even more difficult to shade highlights using a 6B. Using multiple pencil grades makes the job easy because there is less effort required to achieve a lighter or darker shade. ![]() HB: Preliminary outlines, some highlights, first layer of shading, eye-whites.ĤB: Mid-tones, light shadows, detailing, hair, first layer of shading for clothes, background.ĦB: Darkest shadows, hair, clothes, dark areas of background, pupils, inside the mouth and nostrils.Ĭlick here for a full step by step tutorial on how to shade a face When shading with a variety of pencil grades, each pencil should only cover a small range of values.įor the drawing below, I used HB, 4B and 6B. If your drawings are usually light, go for a 2B. They’re flexible enough to reach both ends of the value scale without much effort. If you prefer to use only one pencil, I suggest using a 2B, 3B or 4B. Here’s an exaggerated example on thin sketch paper. Not to mention, it will be impossible to erase. All this effort can damage your paper, resulting in a drawing that doesn’t translate well from multiple viewing angles. However, you’ll need to apply a lot of pressure when it comes to shading dark shadows. The HB pencil (aka #2 pencil) is absolutely great for drawing preliminary outlines and shading light areas because it doesn’t require much effort to produce faint lines. If your tool belt currently consists of a single HB pencil, your portraits are probably lacking depth. This gives the drawing a very impactful look and can enhance the level realism. White: You may have seen artists use correctional fluid (whiteout), paint or white pencil crayon to bring out strong highlights in their drawing. They are actually very commonly used together with amazing results. However, you can achieve it with charcoal. You can tell how hard or soft a pencil is by looking at the combination of letters and numbers printed on the end of each pencil.īlack: With graphite pencils, you won’t get a deep black. The best shading pencils should be free of impurities. You can click here to check it out on Amazon. The pencil grades I use the most for portrait drawing are: HB, 4B, 6B and 8B from Derwent. They are the best pencils for shading and drawing portraits! Soft pencils deposit more graphite with less effort, making it easy to fill in space, blend, shade and add texture to your drawing. Soft pencils produce dull and dark lines which are easy to blend. ![]() The harder the pencil, the more difficult it is to blend or smudge.īe careful when shading or outlining with sharp, hard pencils because they can leave deep indents in your paper which are very difficult to cover up. Hard pencils produce clean, sharp and light lines which are great for sketching, architectural drawings, product sketches, etc. What are the best pencils for sketching and shading? The range you need depends on the type of drawings you do. Having a full set is not necessary for portrait drawing. Invest in a set of high quality pencils with a range of grades that fit your specific drawing needs.Ī typical full set of pencils will range from 9H (hardest) to 9B (softest). To achieve a realistic drawing that communicates form and depth, your drawing will need to have a wide range of values. ⦁ Shading Exercises and Printable Worksheets ![]()
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