I'm going to show you how I shaded the pear in the previous tutorial. This will give you more hands-on instruction on how to shade an object using a graphite pencil.
Begin by roughing in the contour line drawing of the object.
Begin by roughing in the contour line drawing of the object.
STEP 1 - Mid Tones
Lightly and evenly apply a medium tone over the entire object. Notice the right-handed angle of my pencil strokes. You are just "coloring in" the object to establish a beginning point with the shading. I also darkened the outline a little at this point.
Lightly and evenly apply a medium tone over the entire object. Notice the right-handed angle of my pencil strokes. You are just "coloring in" the object to establish a beginning point with the shading. I also darkened the outline a little at this point.
STEP 2 - Highlights
Now use a kneaded erasure to remove some of the graphite and create the highlighted areas of the drawing.
Now use a kneaded erasure to remove some of the graphite and create the highlighted areas of the drawing.
STEP 3 - Core Shadow and Edges
Except near the highlights, apply another light layer of graphite over the entire object at slightly different angle. You can see how this works in the example below. This will blend the strokes together creating a more even tone and darkening the object a little more.
Except near the highlights, apply another light layer of graphite over the entire object at slightly different angle. You can see how this works in the example below. This will blend the strokes together creating a more even tone and darkening the object a little more.
After you apply the second layer of graphite, apply another layer just near the edge of the object to darken it slightly. Then darken the outline of the object a little more. The key to shading is to darken a little at a time.
Apply several more light layers of graphite in patches as you darken in the core shadow area. Make the patches slightly darker and smaller as you go to create a transition from lighter to darker - with the darkest patch in the center of the core shadow. At this point I also blended a little around the highlight edges to make them look more subtle and natural.
STEP 4 - Cast Shadow
Draw in the outline of the cast shadow and evenly fill it with a medium tone. I also shaded in the shadow coming off the stem at this point.
Draw in the outline of the cast shadow and evenly fill it with a medium tone. I also shaded in the shadow coming off the stem at this point.
Darken the cast shadow nearest the object.
STEP 5 - Final Adjustments
The last stage of the drawing is where you look at the object as a whole, trying to fix problem areas. Look specifically at areas that need more transitional blending and areas that need to be darker or lighter. At this point I cleaned up the outline with the erasure and darkened it in again. I also darkened in the stem, the core shadow and certain areas around the edge of the object. I felt confident that I fixed all the problem areas, so I considered it finished. Try not to go back in too much to make it perfect. It's easy to over-work a drawing when you do this. It's better to get it to a point where it looks finished and leave it alone
The last stage of the drawing is where you look at the object as a whole, trying to fix problem areas. Look specifically at areas that need more transitional blending and areas that need to be darker or lighter. At this point I cleaned up the outline with the erasure and darkened it in again. I also darkened in the stem, the core shadow and certain areas around the edge of the object. I felt confident that I fixed all the problem areas, so I considered it finished. Try not to go back in too much to make it perfect. It's easy to over-work a drawing when you do this. It's better to get it to a point where it looks finished and leave it alone
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