How to Shade With a Pencil

Look at the two bars at the top of the sheet. The value scale is six boxes, going from the darkest dark you can make down to plain white paper. The gradation scale is one long bar that fades from dark to light with no breaks. Draw both before you start. They teach your hand how much pressure makes each tone.

Draw a circle below the scales. You can freehand it or trace round something round, like the bottom of a cup or a plastic lid. Make it about the size of your palm. A circle the size of a coin is too small to shade well, and you will run out of room for the values.

Draw a small sun and an arrow at the top left corner. That is where the light comes from. Then sketch curved contour lines inside the circle, like ripples moving out from the top left. Each band is where one value will go, from the white highlight near the light to the darkest crescent at the bottom right.

Start with the darkest value. Shade the crescent-moon shape along the bottom right edge, the part furthest from the light. Both edges of the crescent curve with the circle. Press hard and add several layers until it matches the darkest box on your value scale. This is the anchor every other value is measured against.

Move one band in and shade the second darkest value with less pressure and fewer layers. Then the third. Keep each band curved to the contour, and blend its edge into the band before it so there is no hard line. Stop before the top left and leave a small patch of white paper for the highlight. You want at least four values.

Wrap a tissue round one finger. Start at the lightest value and rub in small circles that follow the curve of the sphere. Work toward the dark side. The pencil lines soften into one smooth gradient, and the sphere starts to look round rather than striped. Press gently. The tissue should move graphite, not scrub it off.

Look at the bottom edge of the sphere. Light bounces up off the table and makes a thin, slightly lighter strip there. Use the eraser to lift a little graphite along that edge, then blend it softly. It is subtle, but it makes the ball look like it is sitting in a real room.

The sphere blocks the light, so it casts a shadow on the ground. With light from the top left, the shadow falls to the right as a long, skinny oval. Shade it darkest where it touches the sphere, then fade to lighter values as it moves away. That dark contact point is what anchors the ball to the ground.

Draw a grid of three squares across and four down. In the top row, hatch: fill each square with parallel lines. Lines close together and thicker read dark. Space them out for medium, and wider still for light. In the second row, cross-hatch. Same idea, but the lines cross each other in a grid.

In the third row, stipple. Build value with small dots, packed tight for dark and spread out for light. It takes a while, so be patient with the dark square. In the last row, scumble: fill each square with loose, random squiggles. Heavy, tight scribbles for dark, then lighter pressure and more space for each lighter square.