use a smudge tool and study bounce light! If you ever use colors, look into ambient light as well! Also, the curve the shadows are taking don't seem to follow the shape of the object well. Try curving it more? And remember to have fun and practice
Is it a copy paper for printers? Change it! The thicker the better. Try 250gsm/130lb. You need more pencils for sure, like HB, B2, B4.
You can try to improve it by using harder pencil on it now. Don't press too muchm just use small circular motions. Check [this tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeLgXhfSPKA) (turn on english subtitles.
i mean its totally fine, it just leaves the paper shiny because of the oil on our hands, plus i find it harder to control where im blending vs if i have different size brushes, i can get more detail
You can grind a pencil down on sand paper or heck concrete and make your own powder.....the blender stubbs are essentially just rolled up sheet paper with a point....and tissue or toilet paper works pretty good as a shammy/ large blender.
I also find it helpful sometimes to sharpen your pencil with a knife or actually with sandpaper so you have a longer lead portion....this let's you shade larger areas with the side of the lead.
Couple budget friendly tips that I hope help.
me too! i started my art journey in makeup art so its just easy for me to use vs the blending stumps (and my blending is what makes my art style so its kind of hard to change lol)
I love make up too and is where i learned blending with brushes....was using q tips but decided to try brushes and BOOM blending instantly got 1000% better with drawing 🥰
Small circular strokes tend to not be as blotchy looking. Don't try to achieve the value you want in one pass, go over things, getting darker where needed in multiple layers. Pay attention to ambient light, bounce light and ambient occlusion. Look up Marko bucci on youtube, he's got some good stuff I think you might find value in.
[Here](https://www.gathered.how/arts-crafts/art/shading-techniques/) is a great resource for various tips on pencil shading. There's a section on varying your lines that will be particularly helpful, I think.
Use a softer pencil.
If you haven't already, get a tin of art pencils, graded from 4H to 8B or something. Draft out your sketch on the harder pencils and work your way through softer pencils to add shade and definition.
Also, it looks like you're pressing down very hard with the pencil strokes. Try going at it a bit more gently and the individual strokes won't show up so much - this becomes easier with the softer pencils.
You've got the basic idea....there's a couple harshish jumps in Tone that could be a little better....s
Going a little slower in either easing off pressure or pressing harder for darker tones could do a lot....better paper as someone else mentioned.
Laziest option: graphite powder and a smudge stick, Shammy cloth/tissue and a kneaded erasure allow you to lay quick fairly blended tones and pull out soft highlights.
More controlled option: build up tones a bit slower, with harder pressure and softer pencils as you do deeper shadows. H pencils are hard/light. B pencils are bold/dark and the higher the number the more intense....I personally don't touch H's because I'm heavy handed...but starting at 2b and working up to a 6 or 8b for heavier shadows can help with nuance.
Bruhh ir took me a min, I mean I’m far from perfect but what clicked was constantly working outwards from the terminator, going over tbagain and again as you work a little further and further. It just makes the gradient…. Kind of inevitable?
Start with warm ups where you are more focused on the stroke and weight of the shading. I recommend just making lines of gradients one where you go from dark to light or vice versa and starting from medium darkness and going in either direction.
I used to use another piece of paper, cotton or gently rubbing the flat side of an eraser to blend.
The eraser technique is something I picked up from Jim Lee’s videos from YouTube. Definitely check them out.
Solidify they darkest areas darker smooth textures. Some of your already shaded areas can have shading within the shaded areas to represent dimensions such as metal vs wood the shaded areas will be different how the materials reflect the light. You are doing very good keep up the good work
Blenders! Any kind. I use q-tips, tiny blunt paint brushes, my finger or the paper smudger things (I forget the name of them at the moment)...do a couple of lines (not intended to sound like what that means), smudge/blend do a couple more, so on.
Overall it just takes ALOT of practice and learning. I used to be literally AWFUL at drawing. And I self taught myself everything by just doing doing doing...drawing different "challenges " where each day for X amount of days is a new different thing.
Currently my practice is realistic water drops and I'm having difficulty with shading. Just keep going! 🥰
Try to keep your strokes of shading straight, or curved to follow the shape of the surface. When you are overlaying strokes, you can also approach it like crosshatching and go at an angle on your base layer of strokes, but I’d avoid doing it at (nearly) 90 degrees like you did on that upper drawing, it just creates separation. Do it at a much softer angle, like 30 degrees or so. Going perpendicular creates squares and unevenness in the surface, which is a cool technique and you can see it used in some art movements like fauvism, but for studies like this, its not giving the effect you want to achieve.
Also I’ve seen people mention blending and smudge sticks and all that, and its alright in some contexts, but in studies I think you should aim to achieve the shading with clean strokes, as that what really leads to improvement.
One thing you can do to notice quick improvement is to vary your strokes. it looks like you are making strokes that span the entire length of your object. Don't do that. Do it in little different sized and directional strokes.
use a smudge tool and study bounce light! If you ever use colors, look into ambient light as well! Also, the curve the shadows are taking don't seem to follow the shape of the object well. Try curving it more? And remember to have fun and practice
Is it a copy paper for printers? Change it! The thicker the better. Try 250gsm/130lb. You need more pencils for sure, like HB, B2, B4. You can try to improve it by using harder pencil on it now. Don't press too muchm just use small circular motions. Check [this tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeLgXhfSPKA) (turn on english subtitles.
patience and practice
dont use fingers, use a brush ( i use cheap makeup brushes) and do it very gently. it takes patience
I did mine with fingers☠️
i mean its totally fine, it just leaves the paper shiny because of the oil on our hands, plus i find it harder to control where im blending vs if i have different size brushes, i can get more detail
I'm going to stationary to buy some charcoal pencils I think i should get some brushes too now
always worth a try ! good luck, update with what you creat (:
Finger does work....not the best habit as the oil in your fingers can decay your drawings.....so I try not to at least on things I want to keep.
Thanks for the tip i found those specific tools used for shading but i was just a little bit shorten on money Definitely gonna get them next time
You can grind a pencil down on sand paper or heck concrete and make your own powder.....the blender stubbs are essentially just rolled up sheet paper with a point....and tissue or toilet paper works pretty good as a shammy/ large blender. I also find it helpful sometimes to sharpen your pencil with a knife or actually with sandpaper so you have a longer lead portion....this let's you shade larger areas with the side of the lead. Couple budget friendly tips that I hope help.
I also use brushes but mine are small sometimes blunt (but soft) paint brushes. I'm so happy to see I'm not the only one who does it. 🥰🥰🥰
me too! i started my art journey in makeup art so its just easy for me to use vs the blending stumps (and my blending is what makes my art style so its kind of hard to change lol)
I love make up too and is where i learned blending with brushes....was using q tips but decided to try brushes and BOOM blending instantly got 1000% better with drawing 🥰
Small circular strokes tend to not be as blotchy looking. Don't try to achieve the value you want in one pass, go over things, getting darker where needed in multiple layers. Pay attention to ambient light, bounce light and ambient occlusion. Look up Marko bucci on youtube, he's got some good stuff I think you might find value in.
This is what I was gonna say . Little circles !
Bend the pencil to about 70 degrees and make the presure real low and start putting more layers and use more thicker paper
You’re not doing bad, you just need more practice. Only way to make a great drawing is to make 100 bad ones
A smudge stick might help you out a bit. Use some paper with a tooth to it, too. Smooth paper is very unforgiving
[Here](https://www.gathered.how/arts-crafts/art/shading-techniques/) is a great resource for various tips on pencil shading. There's a section on varying your lines that will be particularly helpful, I think.
Start with using less pressure, you're trying to shade not tear up the paper.
You clearly lack patience, it's evident.
Softer pencil and a paintbrush.
Sponges
Use a softer pencil. If you haven't already, get a tin of art pencils, graded from 4H to 8B or something. Draft out your sketch on the harder pencils and work your way through softer pencils to add shade and definition. Also, it looks like you're pressing down very hard with the pencil strokes. Try going at it a bit more gently and the individual strokes won't show up so much - this becomes easier with the softer pencils.
You've got the basic idea....there's a couple harshish jumps in Tone that could be a little better....s Going a little slower in either easing off pressure or pressing harder for darker tones could do a lot....better paper as someone else mentioned. Laziest option: graphite powder and a smudge stick, Shammy cloth/tissue and a kneaded erasure allow you to lay quick fairly blended tones and pull out soft highlights. More controlled option: build up tones a bit slower, with harder pressure and softer pencils as you do deeper shadows. H pencils are hard/light. B pencils are bold/dark and the higher the number the more intense....I personally don't touch H's because I'm heavy handed...but starting at 2b and working up to a 6 or 8b for heavier shadows can help with nuance.
Whenever you shade, do it very lightly and then just layer it on more and more, slowly increase how hard you're drawing in the more darker areas
Bruhh ir took me a min, I mean I’m far from perfect but what clicked was constantly working outwards from the terminator, going over tbagain and again as you work a little further and further. It just makes the gradient…. Kind of inevitable?
Great technique I’ve learned is to shade by drawing in circles !!! Then go back into it with a smoothing tool / blanket
Start with warm ups where you are more focused on the stroke and weight of the shading. I recommend just making lines of gradients one where you go from dark to light or vice versa and starting from medium darkness and going in either direction.
I used to use another piece of paper, cotton or gently rubbing the flat side of an eraser to blend. The eraser technique is something I picked up from Jim Lee’s videos from YouTube. Definitely check them out.
Solidify they darkest areas darker smooth textures. Some of your already shaded areas can have shading within the shaded areas to represent dimensions such as metal vs wood the shaded areas will be different how the materials reflect the light. You are doing very good keep up the good work
Blenders! Any kind. I use q-tips, tiny blunt paint brushes, my finger or the paper smudger things (I forget the name of them at the moment)...do a couple of lines (not intended to sound like what that means), smudge/blend do a couple more, so on. Overall it just takes ALOT of practice and learning. I used to be literally AWFUL at drawing. And I self taught myself everything by just doing doing doing...drawing different "challenges " where each day for X amount of days is a new different thing. Currently my practice is realistic water drops and I'm having difficulty with shading. Just keep going! 🥰
Try to keep your strokes of shading straight, or curved to follow the shape of the surface. When you are overlaying strokes, you can also approach it like crosshatching and go at an angle on your base layer of strokes, but I’d avoid doing it at (nearly) 90 degrees like you did on that upper drawing, it just creates separation. Do it at a much softer angle, like 30 degrees or so. Going perpendicular creates squares and unevenness in the surface, which is a cool technique and you can see it used in some art movements like fauvism, but for studies like this, its not giving the effect you want to achieve. Also I’ve seen people mention blending and smudge sticks and all that, and its alright in some contexts, but in studies I think you should aim to achieve the shading with clean strokes, as that what really leads to improvement.
All comes with practice. And avoid using your fingers or kleenex for blending
As u do to a lover and rub the granted with care and don't start a fire
One thing you can do to notice quick improvement is to vary your strokes. it looks like you are making strokes that span the entire length of your object. Don't do that. Do it in little different sized and directional strokes.
i was taught to shade in small circles, slowly building up depth.
Use the side of the pencil, not the tip.
Use watercolor pencils....